S4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)

Eight quid. Eight pounds of my own money, handed over to rent a documentary about a man whose story I've been following for years. And you know what? I'm a little annoyed with myself, because the film itself is perfectly decent. It's just not decent for me.

Let me be upfront: I believe Bob Lazar. I have for a long time. For the uninitiated, Lazar is the man who came forward claiming to have worked on reverse-engineered extraterrestrial craft at a classified facility near Area 51 in Nevada. It's one of the most compelling and persistently credible whistleblower stories in UFO history, and it has never really gone away, no matter how many people have tried to make it do so. If you're coming to this documentary as a complete newcomer, honestly, stop reading this and just watch it. It is, without question, the most thorough and accessible treatment of his story put to film. It's well put together, it presents the material seriously, and it doesn't condescend to the audience or wink at the camera every five minutes.

But here's the thing. I am not a newcomer. I've read the interviews, watched the old footage, followed the threads. And watching S4: The Bob Lazar Story, I kept waiting for something new to grab onto. A piece of corroboration I hadn't heard before. A fresh angle on the physics. A revelation that shifts the needle even slightly further toward proof. It never came. The film does a thorough job of compiling what's already out there, but if you're already across the material, that's all it's doing: compiling.

That's not necessarily a crime in documentary filmmaking. A well-made primer on a complicated subject has real value, especially for a story this easy to misrepresent or sensationalise. And to the film's credit, it doesn't go down that route. It treats Lazar with respect and lets the story breathe. There's no theatrical reconstruction nonsense, no dramatic sting every time someone says "classified." It's measured. But measured, for me, felt a little flat.

What I kept thinking about is the burden Lazar carries and how little has materially changed for him over the decades. His story has stayed remarkably consistent. Details he gave in the late eighties have since been partially corroborated in ways he couldn't have engineered. And yet here we are, still at the same impasse: fascinating, plausible, but nothing you can hold in your hand and show a sceptic. The documentary captures that frustration without quite resolving it, which is probably honest, but it also means you leave exactly where you started.

I think the star rating tells you everything. Three out of five. I don't regret watching it. I do regret paying the rental fee for something that, for me personally, covered ground I already knew by heart. If this had been on a streaming service I already subscribe to, I'd probably feel warmer about it. But £8 for no new revelations stings a bit when you've been invested in this particular rabbit hole for as long as I have.

So here's my honest recommendation: if Bob Lazar's name means nothing to you, this is exactly the film you want. Watch it, let it do its job, and then fall down the rabbit hole yourself. If you're already a believer, or even just a well-read sceptic, manage your expectations. It's a solid piece of work. It just won't tell you anything you don't already know.

Three stars.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2026  | Watched: 2026-04-05

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Rent: Amazon Video
Buy: Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Amazon Video
Buy: Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon US

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