There are lots of workarounds for making a film about teenagers with special powers while avoiding the concept of a superhero, but the two answers studios often opt for are aliens and mutants (i.e. unexplained genetic gift). These solutions have worked pretty well, but one place where they consistently falter is on creating unique or even moderately clever superpowers. In the case of I Am Number Four, a teen science fiction novel from the minds of James Frey (A Million Little Pieces) and Jobie Hughes, there’s very little creativity to be found. Luckily for their wallets though, that didn’t matter because this is one of those films where a studio bought up the movie rights when there was an inkling it might be popular and rushed it into adaptation. Accordingly, there’s not much to I Am Number Four, but you can switch off your brain and watch 110 minutes fly by while being somewhat entertained.
Teenager John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) has had many names and has lived in many different cities, but perhaps the strangest of all his homes was his home planet Lorien. In an attempt to save their species from extinction at the hands of the Mogadorians, John and eight other children of Lorien were sent to Earth where they lived under the watchful gazes of the guardians appointed to them. John’s guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant) meticulously monitors the internet and all media for any signs of John and erases him so that no one will ever notice how many places he’s lived and some of the weird coincidences associated with him. Henri’s plan of living under the radar goes to hell when John’s innate abilities start to manifest and he attracts the attention of Mogadorians searching for him. During the political alien skirmish, John deals with his feelings for a girl (Dianna Agron), the conspiracy theories of his friend (Callan McAuliffe) who believes aliens took his father, and the aggressive attention of the jock (Jake Abel) whose girlfriend he’s romancing.
When you make a film about teenagers discovering their different, the allegory is a slap in the face for anyone who bothers to look one layer deeper. The pressures of youth and the feelings of being different have been common themes for more teenage comedies and action films than it’s possible to count, however the most obvious comparison for this one is X-Men. Stan Lee’s depiction of mutations manifesting at puberty was a clean-cut metaphor for changes and the social stigma attached to mutations in the X-Men world a parallel for teenage feelings of rejection and marginalization. I Am Number Four doesn’t have quite the same amount of time to spell out these ideas, so it just crashes through them, and poorly, with John befriending Sam (McAuliffe) who’s constantly bullied for his beliefs in UFOs and just being socially awkward. All the same messages apply; I Am Number Four just has very little tact.
The performances vary across the board depending on how seriously the actor seems to have taken the film. For example, Kevin Durand, as the leader of the bad aliens, serves up plate after plate of cheese. Even if you weren’t lactose intolerant, eventually his performance is hard to swallow. Smith, conversely, suffers from the opposite problem: he can’t act enough. It happens all the time when studios go looking for that next teen action star and it genuinely seems to be a numbers game: Pettyfer is a miss, but he managed to make it through the movie without dropping the ball. Dancing on the line you have Agron and Olyphant, both capable of better and proving it by finding a midway point between Pettyfer’s non-acting and Durand’s almost Vaudevillian moustache-twirling villain.
Where the film can’t be faulted is its special effects, though the fireworks don’t really start flying until the final 20 minutes. Before that it’s just a teenager who seems to have Iron Man’s repulsor cannons in his palms. D.J. Caruso shows he’s better at shooting action sequences than he is the day-to-day life, which means he’s only spot on in this film for about 15% of it. Still, that 15% puts the HD to good use.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Despite the fact that they’re giving you the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and as a digital copy, the set is surprisingly light on extras for a brand new teen action flick. Deleted scenes and bloopers are the only things padding the sole, mediocre featurette about Teresa Palmer’s supporting role as Number Six (to Pettyfer’s Number Four). There should have been a lot more extras in this set.
"I Am Number Four" is on sale May 24, 2011 and is rated PG13. Action, Sci-Fi. Directed by Dj Caruso. Written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Marti Noxon (screenplay), Jobie Hughes & James Frey (novel). Starring Callan McAuliffe, Dianna Agron, Kevin Durand, Teresa Palmer, Timothy Olyphant, Alex Pettyfer.
