Movies Reviews

I Am Number Four – Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Feb 17, 2011, 12:43 GMT

Extraordinary teen John Smith (Pettyfer) is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events-his first love (Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who ...more

Hot up and comer Alex Pettyfer’s American accent is authentic enough to fool this reviewer.  The English actor, who starred in Alex Rider: Stormbreaker and will soon appear in Beastly, is the kind of young actor who could make a career out of just looking into the camera.

This time, Pettyfer’s taken his angsty dark self to Middle America, starring in this sci-fi melodrama, based on the book of the same title by James Frey and Jobie Hughes as Pittacus Lore. 

Pettyfer plays John, a mysterious teenager who is smart, brooding, handsome and athletic but doesn’t fit in at his new school. He and Henri (Timothy Olyphant), who poses as his father but is in reality his alien warrior/ protector, have just landed in Paradise, Ohio. It is a small town where they hope to exist under the radar and evade their enemies, Mogadorians, a group of space assassins in long black coats and deeply scarred and tattooed heads. 

John and Henri constantly change their identities; that’s life on the run. They do their best to appear normal, a tough gig considering that they look perpetually freaked out and behave in a hyper vigilant manner. 

Three other beings like John have been killed and John is Number Four, and will be the next to go in the mythic order of things.  Pettyfer and Olyphant carry it off well.

Back at school, John is bullied, and despite his spectacular physique and mad fighting skills, allows it.  I don’t know I’m buying what they’re selling, but nonetheless this is the position in which he finds himself.  John befriends the perpetual bullying victim Sam (Callan McAuliffe, an Australian who also scores with a Yankee accent) who becomes his warrior in the soon-to come epic battle against the Mogadorians.
 
John meets and falls for Sarah, played by Glee’s Dianna Agron who also doubles as Pettyfer’s real life girlfriend.  Sarah is a loner who obsessively photographs her environment and the people in it. But his opening up to her seems to give him special powers. He can manipulate matter with his powerful, glowing hands.

Sarah puts John in a difficult spot by taking his picture and posting it online.  The Mogadorians are tech savvy and John knows that if they find his pic online, they’ll be able to locate and kill him.  BTW there is enough texting and internet surfing here to satisfy the most hardened screenager.

Australian actor Theresa Palmer (an Australian who lets her accent fly) arrives on the scene, a sexy super-powered motorcycle mama who reveals herself as Number 6 and a capable fighter.  The battle with the Mogadorians is on.

This is a likeable teen oriented film that’s contemporary enough to be interesting to the kids, whether they’ve read the book or not.  There is a strong Twilight vibe throughout with brooding, good looking leads, deep, dark woods where weird stuff happens, nice, lower middle class lifestyles, and morally questionable adults.  It’s no classic, but it’s fun and an eyeful.

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35mm sci fi fantasy drama
Written by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar et al
Directed by D.J. Caruso
Opens: Feb 18
Runtime: 110 minutes
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for language
Country: USA
Language: English