I Am Number Four (2011)

Directed by: DJ Caruso | 109 minutes | action, science fiction | Actors: Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Kevin Durand, Callan McAuliffe, Jake Abel, Judith Hoag, Beau Mirchoff, Emily Wickersham, Brian Howe, Monica Ciszczon, Tucker Albrizzi, Cody Johns, Patrick Sebes, Karina Fernandez, Jeff Hochendoner, L. Derek Leonidoff, James Werley, Peter Mozingo

Pittacus Lore is an alien elder from the planet Lorien, who has come to planet Earth to tell his story. He tells of nine chosen ones: young aliens (who, by the way, look like terrestrial teenagers) who were the only ones to survive the destruction of their planet and who were dropped on Earth to secure the future of their people. However, they are thwarted by Mogadorians, a hostile alien people who are trying to exterminate them. They track down the Loriens one by one to take them out. They already have the numbers one, two and three: the next on their list is number four: a smooth and sporty teenager who tries to live a normal life in the United States under the name John Smith (Alex Pettyfer). Just when he seems to be settled somewhere, his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) summons him to move. Staying in one place for too long makes them easy targets for the Mogadorians.

Pittacus Lore is the pseudonym of James Frey and Jobie Hughes. Their novella ‘I Am Number Four’ was released in 2010 and its filming began that same year. Undoubtedly they want to piggyback on the success of the ‘Twilight’ series, which aims at the same youthful target group. There are plenty of parallels: just like in ‘Twilight’, in the film adaptation of ‘I Am Number Four’ (2011) we only see beautiful, young people whose tanned torsos and toothpaste smiles should be enough to attract hordes of teenagers to the cinemas. Where ‘Twilight’ has Robert Pattinson, ‘I Am Number Four’ comes with Alex Pettyfer (also British by the way). In the town of Paradise, Ohio – the next stop on the road across the US – he bumps into beautiful Sarah (Dianna Agron from ‘Glee’) at school, a girl he instantly falls for (and Loriens seem to become once in their life really in love). He also befriends the nerdy Sam (Callan McAuliffe), who knows a lot about extraterrestrial life. When beams of light shoot from his hands during a lesson, John discovers that he has unique special powers. Forces to protect him from the evil Mogadorians, who are on his trail.

For the film adaptation of ‘I Am Number Four’, the makers have blatantly borrowed; everything we see we’ve seen before in other movies. Elements from series like ‘Roswell’, ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and movies like ‘X-Men’ and the aforementioned ‘Twilight’ saga have been thrown into a big bowl, well mixed up and ‘I Am Number Four’ came out. Sometimes such a mix produces a nice film, sometimes not. With DJ Caruso (‘Disturbia’, 2007) at the helm you can expect that the balance will be positive in this case, but unfortunately that is not the case. Perhaps the main reason for this is the fact that the characters barely come to life or generate sympathy, so you don’t really care what happens to them. Apart from an annoying voice-over at the beginning and at the end of the film, you don’t get any background information about the Loriens. What happened to their planet and why, how did the nine chosen ones come to Earth, how come they look just like us? ‘I Am Number Four’ doesn’t answer it. Instead, we get to see the dull romance between Alex and Sarah, before all hell breaks loose in a way only Michael Bay can do: the finale is full of bombastic special effects, lavish light and sound spectacle and rousing fight scenes. Oh yes, there are also references to possible sequels (provided that this first film brings in enough money of course).

The final is one from the category ‘a lot of screaming, little wool’. Luckily, there’s a cute dog that steals the show, because the actors don’t need ‘I Am Number Four’. Pettyfer and Agron are people who rely mainly on their appearance and who put little depth in their game. The rest of the characters are flat as a dime (the nerd, the bully). Australian actress Teresa Palmer makes a fresh appearance as the tough ‘Number Six’, but she doesn’t show up until the end of the film. Until then, Timothy Olyphant is the only one who still manages to rise slightly above the surface, but his time is also limited. The evil Mogadorians, who appear to have visited the same plastic surgeon as Voldemort, with their leather jackets and tattooed heads, are more likely to make you laugh rather than instill fear.

It should be clear: ‘I Am Number Four’ has little to offer. That even applies literally to Alex Pettyfer, because he likes to show his shapely body often. That alone will be enough reason for many teenage girls to go to the cinema to see this movie. They will not lose sleep over the fact that there is no trace of originality, the story is not going anywhere and the actors absolutely do not convince. Teenage boys will feast on the bombastic finale and Dianna Agron’s radiant smile. This film is not much more. Well, there is a target audience for everything…