I Am Number Four | Movie Review

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I Am Number Four | Movie Review
February 24, 2011
By ARAN KIRSCHENMANN
Seattle PI

The new action and romance science fiction film, “I Am Number Four,” is based off the bestselling book series of the same title by James Frey and Jobie Hughes under the penname Pittacus Lore.

The story revolves around a teenage alien, the fourth of the nine gifted children given the responsibility of protecting their destroyed planet. All of their families were killed and the nine were left only with an alien warrior to protect each of them and a league of evil aliens, called the Mogadorians, set on killing them all in order.

The movie begins with the death of the third child, leaving the remaining children with the new task of keeping themselves alive and protecting Earth from the Mogadorians. Number Four, known as John Smith throughout most of the movie, is a teenager plagued with fear of the Mogadorians, the hardships of constantly moving and being forced to stay invisible and not make friendships, as well as the confusion of his developing new powers.

After an incident in the beginning of the film, Number Four is forced by his protector to move to Paradise, Ohio and to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Naturally, he makes waves on the very first day of school and falls in love with a human girl named Sarah, which results in much conflict and leads the Mogadorians straight to him.

My favorite part of the entire film is the amazing action and fight scenes. The CGI technology brought the aliens’ superpowers, magical weapons, and bizarre creatures to life as if it were a real-life cartoon. There were enough battles throughout the film to easily be considered an action film, and they were all very absorbing and entertaining to watch.

IMAX did the movie justice and I think that 3D would have made it even more exciting.
Number Four was suitably played by the well-known English actor, Alex Pettyfer, who is about to star in another film, “Beastly,” next month. Dianna Argon, a star from the hit television show “Glee,” played Number Four’s love interest, and although she was a sweet character, I also found her rather dull. I preferred Teresa Palmer as Number Six who arrives near the end of the film, and her fighting at the final battle was the most incredible.

The acting was overall good, yet a great deal of the film’s appeal undoubtedly came from the main characters’ heartthrob status.

The movie should have done more explaining since it left a large amount of background questions unanswered. Because I had not read the book on which the movie is based, many of the reasoning for parts of the movie was unknown to me, but I’m certain that if I was familiar with the story beforehand it would have been far easier to understand. The movie was clearly a set up for a sequel which is set to release this August, and it finished with an open ending that made you want more.

Overall, I thought “I Am Number Four” was a fun and enjoyable movie that was funny and surprisingly believable for having such a far-out plot. It is evidently aimed at a young adult and teenage audience, but I think that many people regardless of age will appreciate it.