Geekscape Movie Reviews of ‘I Am Number Four’

“Number 1 was killed in Malaysia. Number 2 was murdered in England. Number 3 was hunted down in Kenya. Before they come for the others, they’ll come for me. I Am Number 4.”

Based on the first novel of a planned six-part series from an author named Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four is being hailed as the next Twilight. But we’ll get to that.

John Smith is a high school student who is masking his true identity on Earth as a Loric from another planet. He is forced to move around constantly to avoid another group of nasty aliens called Magadorians that are out to destroy him and the remaining 6 Loriens. He’s got a father-like guardian, who protects him until his powers mature.

D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) directed Number Four and it was co-produced by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, which speaks volumes of the story’s potential.

What’s sort of interesting, is that the book was published in 2010 by a writer named Pittacus Lore, who is supposedly an alien from another planet. We love that but it gets better.  It’s actually written by James Frey, remember him?  Oprah. Now remember?  He wrote A Million Little Pieces (2003) about his drug addiction and then had to recant the whole thing.  What a mess that was back in 2006 when he had to take a beat down from the Lady O. 

BUT it gets even better. He didn’t even actually write I Am Number Four.  He edited and polished up the final version that was written by a broke and desperate college student named Hughes, whom Frey contracted to create the concept, pen the novel, and who by his own error of not reading the fine print, gets no writer’s credit. However, at least he didn’t get totally screwed, he does earn 30 percent of the profit from the project. Hughes and Frey have a four-book deal. 

And though the young adult novel seems to be a “love it” or “hate it” by critics, Spielberg saw something in it and grabbed up the rights in a bidding war with J.J. Abrams that is rumored to have been over six figures.

“Smallville” alum Alfred Gough and Miles Millar penned the adaption as there are a lot of similarities between I Am Number Four and their version of Superman on their TV show.

Alex Petyfer stars in I Am Number Four as John Smith.  You may know him for his role in Alex Rider: Operation Storm Breaker (2006) and interestingly, he has another film coming out next week called Beastly, which looks like its going to be big in the young adult market as well.  As for his acting in this film, he comes across well. It’s not the kind of role that he will when awards for, but being the role has got drama, action, and romance, I think he pulled it off. His good looks are going to be a hit with all of the teen ladies, especially when his other film hits next week. I predict he’s going to be the next “It” guy for 2011.

Diana Agron of Glee fame stars as the love interest.  She’s nice to look at on the screen but other than that she doesn’t add a whole lot to what I liked about this movie. Agron’s acting isn’t bad or terrible, but because the story lags when her character’s background is being flushed out, the I dumped the High School football star because he was a jerk – story line is not that attractive. Her story line is played out and I wanted to get to the good stuff.  I didn’t need to be reminded of her role on Glee.

I Am Number Four has lots of elements that are going to be loved by teenagers, and carry over to the older crowd and lovers of sci-fi and fantasy stories.  As for the marketability of this film, you’ve got a cute guy for the teen girls, you’ve got a hot guy for us older ladies (Timothy Olyphant), and you’ve got two gorgeous girls, all combined in one entertaining and action packed story that doesn’t take to many short cuts in the character motivation department. 

For this film to go the distance (i.e. all 6 films in the planned series) you better spend some time letting the audience in on why the characters are doing what they are doing.  Unlike so many films of this nature, Number Four does just that. Kudos to the director and screen writers.

In the first act, we get the characters established and see some foreshadowing.  The second act explores what we’ve learned in the first, as well as some of the lovey-dovey stuff that all the teens and Twi-moms will love. 

One complaint I do have, is the second act is a little slow. I was worried that I was going to have to write a bad review. Its hard to balance character depth and motivation with moving the story forward, and though this film isn’t a perfect example of achieving that, it still does a decent enough job.

Now we get to the good stuff.  Suddenly act 3 kicks in.  We’ve got a new character, Number Six (Melissa Palmer, Sorcerer’s Apprentice) who’s gorgeous, has that trendy Australian accent, and apparently, she’s here to kicks ass.  From the moment she appears on the screen, the movie shifts into sixth gear.

The fight scenes are nearly perfect and combined with the special effects gets your heart beating.  The final fight sequence does lag just a bit, but all is forgiven when a certain favorite character reappears!

I previewed this movie in a theater full of sorority girls and their frat brothers, so there was a lot of wise cracks being leveled at the screen early on, but they settled down.  What was surprising was how many of them cheered and clapped at the end, guys included.  If this is any indicator, the film is going to be super successful. Or maybe the students were a little buzzed? 

Nonetheless, the film is really going to have mass appeal, but don’t be surprised if more serious critics pick at it as forgettable science fiction.

No teen-like movie would be complete without an awesome soundtrack.  Four features songs by The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Jimmy Eat World, Adelle, Zac Brown Band, and Beck but is not yet available for purchase.

Now you may have heard that this film is the new Twilight.  It’s not really, but I can see how some might think so because it will attract some of those fans.  Unlike Twilight, this film will play well with the male audience, where as Twilight gets beaten up by every straight guy out there that I know, and even by few gay fellas.

Where Twilight is corny (and forgiven by Twi-hards who just love experiencing that feeling of first love) this film doesn’t go there. It has some of the first love stuff but not enough to turn off the dudes. Secondly, it has the you-are-the-only-one-for-me stuff that you find in the vampire story too, but that’s where the comparison ends. 

I Am Number Four has some other worthy aspects that I will leave for you to explore when you see this film and are part of why I think this franchise will get the green light for at least one sequel.

There are a lot of young adult books being adapted into films thanks to Harry Potter and Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series.  Another worthy title to keep a look out for is the upcoming Hunger Games (three books by Suzanne Collins) that is being developed into films as well.  In comparison to those stories, I Am Number Four is not of that caliber, but just the same, it is super fun, and I found it worthwhile.

Did I mention there’s also a cute dog in it?  Aw shucks.  Who doesn’t love a film with a cute dog?