Simon Vesrano / Universal PicturesReview in a Hurry: Actress Milla Jovovich, in the role of Actress Milla Jovovich, hosts an odd mashup of supposedly "found" footage and reenacted scenes featuring herself and other name actors as they tell us a dubious and occasionally scary "true" story involving UFO abductions in Nome, Alaska, (as portrayed herein by a town in Bulgaria).
The Bigger Picture: If DreamWorks had proceeded with its one-time-rumored big-budget remake of Paranormal Activity, it might have gone something like this. Breathe your sighs of relief now. Paranormal found its audience, while The Fourth Kind, despite its periodic strengths, does its very best to take the viewer out of the material rather than immersing one in the story.
Milla introduces herself to us while standing in a forest and proceeds to show us footage of a psychologist named Abigail Tyler being interviewed by the movie's writer-director, a Joe Carnahan protégé named Olatunde Osunsanmi. She talks about strange disappearances in Nome, Alaska, and odd cases she had.
Cut to a much more expensive-looking set, and Jovovich, now playing the role of Dr. Tyler, as she places patients under hypnosis and hears their scary tales. Each time a new actor shows up—and these include Will Patton and Elias Koteas—onscreen titles helpfully tell us their names, and who they're playing. Then every so often, we go back and forth between the dramatization and the "real" people being interviewed. Sometimes there's a split-screen and both are shown at once.
If this had much basis in fact, perhaps there'd be a point to all this, but if the blatant horror-movie makeup on the face of "Dr. Abigail Tyler" (billed only thus in the end credits) doesn't trigger your BS detector in the very first scene, then you just haven't seen many movies.
Had this been done entirely as either a mock-doc or an X-Files-type thriller, rather than an awkward hybrid, it would have a chance. As is, it's hard to relate to actors when the movie keeps reminding you that's what they are.
On the other hand, despite the artifice, Jovovich turns in a bold performance that shows she can do more than just kick undead creatures in the head—it may be her finest acting to date. And there are constant scares, often cheap ones but still effective.
This is where letter grades break down—we'd like to give Milla and the jump moments an A, but apply an F to the whole conception of the thing and the unbelievability of the fake footage. Consider our C grade to be the average of those two scores.
The 180—a Second Opinion: If you take along a date who's likely to jump into your arms at the slightest soundtrack sting, this could be the perfect movie.
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