Playlist: The Fourth Kind

What to make of this? It starts off unexpectedly and intriguingly enough: Milla Jovovich approaches the screen. Fair enough, since she is the star of the film and all. But then she says, "I'm actress Milla Jovovich, and I will be portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler in The Fourth Kind" And it's on.

She continues: "This film is a dramatization of events that occurred October 1st through the 9th of 2000, in the Northern Alaskan town of Nome. To better explain the events of this story, the director has included actual archived footage throughout the film. This footage was acquired from Nome psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler...Every dramatized scene in this movie is supported by either archived audio, video or as it was related by Dr. Tyler during extensive interviews with the director. In the end, what you believe is yours to decide. Please be advised, that some of what you're about to see is extremely disturbing."

It's a creative directorial choice by newcomer Olatunde Osunsanmi and his use of split screen splicing of Jovovich's portrayal of Dr. Tyler and video of the real psychologist's real patients is particularly effective. If also a crock of week old shit.

For you see, there is no Dr. Abigail Tyler, or at least the woman playing her in the "real" video (including a one-on-one interview) is not Dr. Tyler. And that "actual archived footage" the director so thoughtfully included for our benefit? Well, I could shoot a guy in a monkey suit riding a donkey dressed like a triceratops, write "actual footage" on the label and put it on a shelf and, presto, archived footage. It's all a hoax. The whole thing. Whether you believe in alien abductions (which is what this is all about, btw) is besides the point. What was at first artistic vision turns out to be nothing but a creative crutch propping up limp special effects and a balsa wood plot.

How is this different from other faux dox that worked? Say, The Blair Witch Project? Good question, if a bit snarky. I'll answer, though: Blair Witch was a well-crafted film that was enhanced by the orchestrated mythology. The Fourth Kind, on the other hand, not only used its lie as a foundation but the rest of it was constructed with some of that bogus Chinese drywall.

One last thing about the "actual footage." It's lame. Really, if the only reason to include it was to try to trick the audience as to the reality of alien abductions, show something. They literally did the opposite: whenever an alien presence was about to be seen, the video became distorted. Hey, I caught the real Santa Claus on camera. What do you where? Right there, behind that building.

On a side note, Jovovich has had quite the career progression, from eye-candy model to badass heroinne. Remind me to look at this closer in a future post.