I Am Number Four

Rating: PG-13

Brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz

I Am Number Four is about John (Alex Pettyfer) who is an alien who had been sent to Earth along with eight others to be protected from an evil alien race known as the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians had completely destroyed John’s home planet many years before and only nine children had managed to escape, each of the children possess extraordinary powers. The Mogadorians are taking out the nine who had made it out alive one by one. The movie opens with the death of Number Three and his guardian. John feels his passing and takes off on the run with his own guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) since John is next in line to be killed. They settle in a small town called Paradise in Ohio. John soon begins to grow in his powers and also begins falling for Sarah (Dianna Agron), a shy and quiet girl. But as just John begins to settle into having a normal life his world is turned upside down as the Mogadorians find him and gets thrown into a battle to stay alive and save all that he loves.

I had not been too interested to see this movie. I felt the movie was going to be too cheesy. I was wonderfully proven wrong but only to a certain degree.

I LOVE Timothy Olyphant as the protector. He was handsome as always and funny as hell. He added great humor to the movie. Alex Pettyfer did a great job as well. He is charmingly awkward, battling himself to fit in yet be who he really is.

The problem with the movie is that it left too many loopholes. There was never any moment where the story explained why all nine of the children where the only ones who made it out alive from the destruction of their planet. Nor was there an explanation as to why the Mogadorians are killing the nine in order. The love story between Alex Pettyfer’s character and Dianna Agron character, Sarah, was just useless in the movie. The movie barely focused on the love story and it felt as if it had been placed within the movie to cover a hole in the plot. But it didn’t do a very good job. The love story just felt like it dragged out the rest of the movie and didn’t feel real, too rushed.

Teresa Palmer’s character, Number Six, is by far the BEST character in the movie! She is fierce, feisty, and kicks butt better than her male counterparts. She also manages to do it with great style and skill. It’s about time a female was represented as more than a docile character or a sex siren. I also loved that Number Six had her own motorcycle as well!

The action in the movie made up for the lack of plot. Really awesome fight scenes, especially at the end. The visual effects are gorgeous.

If you have read the book I Am Number Four is based off of, you will probably find a lot of the story missing many important plot points within the movie but the movie is still worth watching. The plotline could have been better but the actors and especially the action make up for that. This is a movie I won’t mind watching again.

Director: D.J. Caruso

Running Time: 109 minutes

Rating: 8/10