The Gist
Number One died when he was nine. Number Two died when he was twelve. Number Three just died. Number Four has the scars to prove it. After seeing a vision of Number Three being killed, Number Four and his protector Henri relocate from Florida to Paradise. Paradise, Ohio. Trying to fit in as the new student in a small town is hard enough, and being an alien makes the whole thing close to unbearable. Taking the name John Smith, Number Four finds a friend and a first love. But the Mogadorians are closing in, and everyone around him is at risk of being killed, including himself. Three are dead. He is Number Four.
What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Run Time: 109 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
I saw this movie in theaters when it came out a while ago. And at the time I found it pretty good. Not stellar material, but it was entertaining. Then I read the book. And then I watched the movie again. Kablam. Enlightenment. This movie was bad. NOT. GOOD. Seriously it was all flash and no substance. There were whole elements to the plot that weren't explained at all. Just mentioned in passing. Like, 'hey there's this super sick box that's all mysterious but that's all you get to know!' Fail. Major fail. BUT you can't base the thoughts on a movie around how close it is to the book it was based off of. That doesn't seem fair. So this is me trying to go from a non-biased standpoint.
The acting was sub-par. Alex Pettyfer is not a good actor. I think the whole thing with him is that he's so stunningly attractive. His good looks blind people. However, after about a half an hour, even his hot-ness fails to distract from the fact that his acting is centered around brooding and looking into the distance. That was awesome rhyming, I should be a rapper or something. Anyway. As the main character, he should be noticeably excellent. He wasn't. Boo. Also, Timothy Olyphant wasn't very good, and he generally does well. I don't know what the deal was here, but his character wasn't very likable. Maybe that's how he was trying to portray it, but as Henry he was cold and uncaring, and I didn't enjoy that. It seemed like he was always angry and didn't want to be with Number Four. That annoyed me. On a more positive note, Dianna Agron did a pretty good job as Sarah. It wasn't anything phenomenal, but she was good. I liked her character, and she...I don't even know what to write, but she did well. RRRAR I dunno. The one character I really really liked was Sam. Callan McAuliffe is this 16 year old Australian kid who - so far - has been in nothing I've ever heard of. He's currently filming some cool stuff, and I would say I Am Number Four was sort of his breakout role. For that, I am pleased with this movie. He was Sam. Not just he played it well, he was Sam. He made me laugh, and be sad (I DO NOT CRY), and he made me freak out a little - partially from the intensity of some scenes, partially because he is wicked cute. I legitimately just spent five minutes going through all of his pictures on imdb. He's way more attractive than Alex Pettyfer. Wasting time staring at Callan McAuliffe. Focus. So, he's an up-and-coming actor who did an outstanding job in this movie, and hopefully we see him in new movies soon because he's fantastic. Wow I just got so distracted. What am I writing about?
The special effects in this movie were pretty cool. It's a movie about an alien battle, so the special effects need to be good, or else it kind of falls flat. They worked. There were big storms and lots of fire and telekinesis stuff, and it all looks really...well i guess not 'real' since it's supposed to be alien, but it looked believable at least. Plus there were these big beasty things...good stuff right there. Nothing says alien fight like big beasties, and they looked all mean and scary. Oh my gosh, what am I, four? Whatever. The makeup was also done very well. While Number Four, the main character, didn't look any different from a human, there was a breed of alien that looked very different. They were super pale and had gills and it was pretty creepy, but the makeup was so great! Makeup always fascinates me. How a good makeup artist can transform someone into a totally different person or creature with so little tools, only face paints and such. It's dazzling, really.
But a movie can't be carried by its special effects and makeup. A plot is required to make a movie function, and this movie was lacking so many details...well it was kind of choppy. It fell flat, in its script and its acting. There was nothing to hold your attention, and it was missing too much and explained too little. Nope, it didn't do it for me. What a gross phrase that is. Ew. But it's true. No me gusta this movie. I won't say you shouldn't see it, but...I guess it's good the first time around. Sort of? Eh. Sure, see it once. If only for Callan McAuliffe and Dianna Agron. Yupp. I'm done now.
Real Teen Rating ~ C: If there's nothing else to see...
The acting was sub-par. Alex Pettyfer is not a good actor. I think the whole thing with him is that he's so stunningly attractive. His good looks blind people. However, after about a half an hour, even his hot-ness fails to distract from the fact that his acting is centered around brooding and looking into the distance. That was awesome rhyming, I should be a rapper or something. Anyway. As the main character, he should be noticeably excellent. He wasn't. Boo. Also, Timothy Olyphant wasn't very good, and he generally does well. I don't know what the deal was here, but his character wasn't very likable. Maybe that's how he was trying to portray it, but as Henry he was cold and uncaring, and I didn't enjoy that. It seemed like he was always angry and didn't want to be with Number Four. That annoyed me. On a more positive note, Dianna Agron did a pretty good job as Sarah. It wasn't anything phenomenal, but she was good. I liked her character, and she...I don't even know what to write, but she did well. RRRAR I dunno. The one character I really really liked was Sam. Callan McAuliffe is this 16 year old Australian kid who - so far - has been in nothing I've ever heard of. He's currently filming some cool stuff, and I would say I Am Number Four was sort of his breakout role. For that, I am pleased with this movie. He was Sam. Not just he played it well, he was Sam. He made me laugh, and be sad (I DO NOT CRY), and he made me freak out a little - partially from the intensity of some scenes, partially because he is wicked cute. I legitimately just spent five minutes going through all of his pictures on imdb. He's way more attractive than Alex Pettyfer. Wasting time staring at Callan McAuliffe. Focus. So, he's an up-and-coming actor who did an outstanding job in this movie, and hopefully we see him in new movies soon because he's fantastic. Wow I just got so distracted. What am I writing about?
The special effects in this movie were pretty cool. It's a movie about an alien battle, so the special effects need to be good, or else it kind of falls flat. They worked. There were big storms and lots of fire and telekinesis stuff, and it all looks really...well i guess not 'real' since it's supposed to be alien, but it looked believable at least. Plus there were these big beasty things...good stuff right there. Nothing says alien fight like big beasties, and they looked all mean and scary. Oh my gosh, what am I, four? Whatever. The makeup was also done very well. While Number Four, the main character, didn't look any different from a human, there was a breed of alien that looked very different. They were super pale and had gills and it was pretty creepy, but the makeup was so great! Makeup always fascinates me. How a good makeup artist can transform someone into a totally different person or creature with so little tools, only face paints and such. It's dazzling, really.
But a movie can't be carried by its special effects and makeup. A plot is required to make a movie function, and this movie was lacking so many details...well it was kind of choppy. It fell flat, in its script and its acting. There was nothing to hold your attention, and it was missing too much and explained too little. Nope, it didn't do it for me. What a gross phrase that is. Ew. But it's true. No me gusta this movie. I won't say you shouldn't see it, but...I guess it's good the first time around. Sort of? Eh. Sure, see it once. If only for Callan McAuliffe and Dianna Agron. Yupp. I'm done now.
Real Teen Rating ~ C: If there's nothing else to see...
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