I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four isn't the best action film of the year, or another tongue-in-cheek teen movie. Most importantly, this movie isn't a "wannabe" Twilight franchise. This movie is entertainment for all viewers that delivers a good story, action and even a desire to want more at the end. Although after the first ten minutes I was figuring I Am Number Four was going to be a dud. It all starts with bad CGI monsters and some guys chasing people around in the jungle, then we cut to a  bunch of jocks doing tricks on jet skis and some ditsy type blond girls admiring them. While this seems very disjointed and totally random, once you get into the story it does tie together in a way. Luckily after that weird beginning the story starts to move and becomes fairly enjoyable.

The acting in I Am Number Four while far from award winning it exceeded my expectations for the acting and suffices for the popcorn munching movie that it is. Alex Pettyfor stars as John Smith (Number Four). This was the second movie I have seen him in and I liked and enjoyed his performance a lot more in this movie then him in Beastly. I felt that Pettyfor was a lot stronger when his role allows him to be a little more like a high school student. He plays the role with some strong moments, but it is really interesting to see his struggle that takes place once he finds out he is an alien. We get to see the struggle that takes place once he finds out he is an alien, between what he is expected to do versus that of his own desire to be just a normal teenager. Timothy Olyphant plays Henri, John's Lorien guardian. Olyphant in my eyes was drastically held back from reaching his potential in this roles simply because of the writing. Teresa Palmer in the role of Number 6 was the biggest surprise for me. Even though she is this butt kicking female who actually shows up Number 4 in the fighting. Yet, even with that she still has this softness with her character that the audience not only cares about her, but she still has a lovable character that is still tough as nails. The rest of the supporting cast do just fine and Dianna Argon in the love interest role is solid and continues to show the potential she has in the future.

The story of I Am Number Four is actually fairly decent and does a great job with the pacing for the entire movie. With a movie based on a book one of the big keys for me on how good the story is, does it after seeing the movie make me want to go and read the book. After seeing I Am Number Four, it made me want to go out and read the book series to see the more in depth detail that the book can go into that the move does not have the time to cover. The story worked for me because it had a feeling that it was constantly building toward a climax. With this feeling of building you do not get bored, but instead I was focused on everything that was happening on screen. After seeing the movie it really made a lot of sense to me the contrast that was being set up at the beginning of the movie of what would be the life for Number 4 to deal with in his life and his desire to really just have a normal life. The only major complaint I had with the story is that of Henri, Number 4's guardian. As the guardian he is supposedly a former Lorien warrior, yet he is kidnapped by a couple of alien conspiracists. Even with this weakness though the movie built up to a great action sequence that for me did not leave me overwhelmed or wanting more, but instead I felt very satisfied.

I Am Number Four is a fun popcorn munching movie. I really enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to sitting down and reading the books in this series. The young actors in this movie show a lot of promise and I saw a lot of improvement from Pettyfor in comparison to his role in Beastly. I am giving I Am Number Four three buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that is well worth the price of renting.

-The Movie Man