MovieChat Forums > The Fourth Kind (2009) Discussion > My opinion of this movie increased after...

My opinion of this movie increased after reading some comments here


I didn't like this movie very much while I wacthed it. It was good enough to get some thrills. But it was nothing very outstanding.

But as I came here, I was really shocked by some of the comments. I learned that a few viewers had actually thought that the "real footage" in this movie was a real footage obtained from police or medical archives. Most people did not fall for that, of course, but there were some. And that is enough.

Having learned that, I must say that this movie was actually quite successful. It managed to trick some viewers. Today, everybody is used to the "found footage" style movies. But this movie invented a different trick - Milla Jovovic appearing at the start, saying that part of the movie is dramatization, created an illusion that the rest, the non-dramatized part, might actually be a real thing. That trick was much smarter than I initially thought.

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Using language that has no 'legal' meaning is actually a very old advertising technique. 'New' 'improved' 'best' 'leading' all examples of words that have no legal meaning and do not require substantiating facts.
If you listen critically to almost any commercial ad, you will note they use this type of language...almost exclusively...and , in the end, say nothing at all, of any real substance.
Testimonials, Anecdotes... are the same as hearsay evidence, and have no rightful place in a court of law or a serious scientific investigation.
Apply this, to the prologue

'When you hang a man, you better look at him.'

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The OP isn't suggesting the language or the trick is new, just that this is the first time he's seen this particular tack used in a found footage movie.

I'm surprised that the people who weren't fooled are so up in arms--why assume the director thinks we're stupid? It's intended as an engaging framework for a horror movie, not a true attempt to hoodwink.

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Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley

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