Touchstone Pictures, Inc.
My review of D.J. Caruso's I Am Number Four comes only a day after my previous review. Why? Well, I recently discovered that there is a movie theater in my town where you can view slightly outdated movies for only a dollar on Tuesdays and today is, in fact, Tuesday, so I took advantage of this new discovery to see I Am Number Four, which, unfortunately, turned out to be more of a teenie bopper film than I was expecting. I spent a good hour of the two hour film thinking to myself: "I am way too old for this." Based on a novel penned by "Pittacus Lore" (a fictional author actually composed of two writers, of which one half is writer non grata James Frey), I Am Number Four tells the story of a teenager (played by Alex Pettyfer) who struggles to stay alive on Earth after his home planet is destroyed. The film has several strong points, and the performances of the lead actors rank high among these. What's fascinating about the film is that the actors seem a little too good for the movie as they manage to nail their performances in spite of a sloppy and rather lackluster screenplay. In spite of the target demographic of (I presume) teenage girls, I Am Number Four lacks any truly cringe-worthy performances and would have been a better film if certain elements had been eliminated. If I had to sum up in words what the film's primary problem is, I would have to say that it struggles to find its audience as it continually attempts (and succeeds) in delivering mature performances, only to remind the viewer that it is actually intended for children (for example: the adorable dog that turns into a superhero).
John Smith appears to be a normal teenager, but he has a rather unfortunate secret. He is actually an alien from a planet that was destroyed by a villainous race called the Mogadorians. John and other young people with special powers like him have been sent to hide on Earth, along with protectors trained to guard them until they gain their full powers. The Mogadorians follow the young people to Earth (their next planet to destroy) and, one by one, kill the teenagers, going down the list. In the beginning of the film, the third alien is killed and, soon after, the viewer learns that John is Number Four, and he and his protector have to leave their home to avoid being found by the Mogadorians. They end up in the town of Paradise, Ohio (why do these films/TV shows always take place in Ohio?), where John immediately forms connections with the beautiful but quirky Sarah, and jock punching bag Sam. Right away, Sam realizes that John is different and, eventually, John is forced to reveal that he is an alien. Sarah and John form a love connection, and Sarah's quarterback ex-boyfriend tries, and fails, to split them up. The Mogadorians lure John and his protector Henri into a trap and Henri is killed in the encounter. When the Mogadorians attack John's high school, John and his friends are saved by Number Six, another one of the gifted alien teenagers. With the cohort of Mogadorians destroyed, John, Number Six, and Sam embark on a journey to find the rest of their people on Earth. John is forced to leave Sarah behind.
I Am Number Four has all of the elements of a successful teen film: a handsome lead actor, an attractive and quirky supporting actress (played by Glee's Dianna Agron), the typical high school social setting of jocks, bullies, nerds, and weirdos, and aliens that look like characters from a Harry Potter film. As I attempted to argue above, the film suffers from an almost amateurish plot. The idea of alien youths being killed off one by one is a good one, but the appearance of the Mogadorians and the handling of certain aspects of the plot left much to be desired. Really, the essential problem is that as a twenty-something writer, I am too old to be watching this film. In terms of analyzing it as piece of the robots in film puzzle, I Am Number Four really does not have a singular role in the canon, unless one wishes to delve into the teenager as automaton situation again (read the review of Heathers). Another argument one could make regards sympathetic handling of aliens and establishing links between the portrayal of aliens in film vs. the portrayal of thinking machines, but I've delved into that already (read the review of The Man Who Fell To Earth). All in all, I Am Number Four was certainly watchable and Pettyfer, Agron, and Olyphant delivered great performances, but I certainly would not watch it again... unless I wanted to relive my own high school experiences, which, alas, I don't.
