I Am Number Four (2011) Review

"In this situation here, you're probably thinking, "Maybe I could save the day.  Maybe I could be the hero."  But I say...don't do that."

-Mogadorian Commander

When the planet of Lorien was invaded by the murderous race of Mogadorians, nine children with superhuman abilities, were sent to Earth to escape, each child assigned a protector.  The children were split up and went into hiding around the Earth.  But the Mogadorians did not give up and started hunting the children.  They can only be killed in numerical order, which means the children are basically immortal, unless their number is up.  Many years later,  Number Three (Greg Townley) is murdered by the leader of the Mogadorians (Kevin Durand), and now they are after Number Four (Alex Pettier).  Four and his protector, Henri (Timothy Olyphant) are forced to flee to a new town and start their lives over, and hope they can stay hidden from the ruthless Mogadorians.  

What Sucks:

This will just be easier if I just start with what I don't like about I Am Number Four.  First off, most of these characters suck.  A lot of the movie involves petty high school drama, a topic I don't particularly care about.  I'm probably not the film's target audience, but whatever, I can still criticize it.  Alex Pettyfer is unlikable.  His love interest Sarah (Diana Agron), his rival Mark (Jake Abel), and Number Six (Teresa Palmer) are all pretty insufferable.  I'm fine revisiting the high school drama stories, but at least make your characters likable.

Most of this movie is simply boring.  It takes over an hour for the interesting stuff to happen.  Most of the time we're stuck with these shitty teenagers just being unpleasant.  Ugh.

The CGI is horrible, especially for 2011.  This movie has not aged well.  It's actually kind of embarrassing. 

Finally, the backstory of these alien characters is barely touched upon.  I don't really understand why anything is happening.  I know this was originally a book, so people who read it likely knew what was going on, but I didn't.  You gotta explain what's happening sometimes, if you want your audience to understand.

What Works:

Believe it or not, I do have some positives.  Number one is Timothy Olyphant.  That guy is just magnetic.  He can do more acting with just his eyes than most actors can with their entire bodies.  He's amazing, as per usual, and steals the scene every time he is on screen.

Next, I really like the design of the Mogadorians.  They are actually pretty creepy looking, and I like how they walk.  They are easily some of the most memorable alien creatures I've seen in recent memory.

The leader of the Mogadorians is played by Kevin Durand (who played Martin Keamy from Lost).  And he is just fantastic.  He doesn't get a ton of screen time, and he only gets three scenes to actually shine in, but when he does, he is fantastic.  It's a shame they utilized him so little, because he could have been a fantastic villain. 

Finally, I enjoyed most of the 3rd act.  It actually got pretty fun and it felt like a completely different movie.  Space battles, explosions, aliens, general awesome-ness.  It was actually entertaining, unlike the rest of the movie.

Verdict:

I wish this movie was more focused on Timothy Olyphant and Kevin Durand's characters, with more sic-fi battles.  It would have been a much better movie than this teen-highschool-love story, with some sci-fi elements mixed in.  I Am Number Four had potential, but it wasted it.

 4/10: Uneven