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Copyright © 2009 Flaming Dog Media, LLC. All rights reserved. |
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A Different Kind of Alien? |
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Jacques Vallee, the French ufologist,
developed a scale for alien intelligence in relation to human
civilization. Sighting a UFO is the first kind of contact.
Evidence of a UFO is the second kind of contact. Contactin'
aliens in a UFO is the third kind (remember the Steven Spielberg
classic?). The fourth kind of contact is alien abduction.
The film, starrin' Milla Jovovich, is
about supposed alien abductions in Nome, Alaska. Jovovich
portrays Dr. Abigail "Abby" Tyler, a psychologist in Nome
who is dealin' with the murder of her husband and with patients
dealin' with sleep disorders in October 2000. Three patients
are introduced, each of them with the same story - they wake in the
middle of the night, and see a white owl outside their bedroom,
somehow the owl gets into their bedroom, and looks down at them,
before they go back to sleep.
The third patient, Tommy, is the one who
Tyler decides to hypnotize first, to find answers for the three
patients havin' the same story.
Under hypnosis the next day, Tommy
freaks out, knocks over furniture in a panic, and refuses to talk
about what he has remembered. That night, he takes his family
hostage, and, after Tyler arrives on the scene, called their by the
local sheriff, Tommy kills his children, his wife, and himself.
The sheriff blames Tyler, claimin' the
violence was caused by hypnotic suggestion. Tyler decides to
tread carefully, and the next night, as she's recordin' her thoughts
onto tape, she dozes off. The next day, when her receptionist
is transcribin' the notes, she discovers that the tape picked up
Tyler's screams and a second voice speakin' in an unknown language.
Tyler puts her first patient, Scott,
under hypnosis after he & his wife come to her, askin' for help.
Scott reveals that he knows it isn't an owl at his window, or in his
bedroom. Tyler becomes convinced that aliens are involved, and
as her investigation into her patients supposed abductions
continues, she, her colleagues, and her family become targets for
the aliens.
Lots of blues & whites, with wavy
distortions were used to show what the people see under hypnosis.
Intercut into the
"dramatizations" of the "real" events are audio
& video recordings of what really happened, as well as an
interview with Dr. Abigail Emily Tyler, conducted by THE FOURTH
KIND's director, Olatunde Osunsanmi. The film opens with Milla
Jovovich speakin' directly to the audience, explainin' how the story
is based in reality. And there's a text epilogue to explain
what happened with each of the main characters introduced through
the movie. As the credits roll, there are audio recordings,
calls to 911, describin' UFO sightings across the country.
All of this is, of course, to sell the
story of alien abductions as real. I'm sure the goal is to
have a new "Blair Witch" phenomenon, or something similar.
I was kind of sold on the idea, before
hand, but as I was watchin' the movie last night, the thing that
kept me from really gettin' into it, the way I would have gotten
into the story if this had been on the History Channel or an old
episode of UNSOLVED MYSTERIES (don't laugh, Robert Stack was the
shit!), was that the "real" footage and the
"re-enactment" footage would be shown, side by side, split
screen, and the actors for the "re-enactment" would be
wearin' different clothes. Why not have 'em in the same
wardrobe? It would have sold the story better.
That Milla Jovovich looks nothin' like
the actress they got to play Abigail Tyler didn't help much, either.
And when the ancient language
specialist, played by Hakeem Kae-Kazim, is introduced, his entire
introductory scene is all about sellin' the idea that aliens visited
Earth thousands of years before Jesus Christ was born.
Add in how the focus shifts from three
patients to only two, with no mention of the woman Tyler was
counselin' despite havin' the same visions of a white owl, really
threw me out of the story.
The friend that I took along
seemed to be into it so much that she screamed a couple of times,
almost jumped out of her seat once, and even let out an "OH, S**T!"
after a reveal.
She and I sat through the end credits,
listenin' to the 911 audio, which could be real or fake, who
knows...
...and, afterward, continued to sit in
the theater for a bit, havin' a discussion about the possibility of
alien intelligence & how it relates to Christianity (she's
religious, I'm not), a discussion that carried over into the parking
lot. And, as she left, she told me that she'd probably have
trouble sleepin', thanks to the movie.
So, THE FOURTH KIND worked for her.
Not so much for me. Sure, it's got some entertainin' moments,
and had it simply been a straight movie, rather than try to sell
itself as a "true" story, I could have raved about
it. But, instead, I'm a little disappointed that I had to go
out at nine o'clock last night for the screenin'.
Tom Sharp
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