I Am Number Four (2011) Blu-Ray Review

Aliens and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list. This is his story.

Director: D.J. Caruso
Writers: Alfred Gough (screenplay), Miles Millar (screenplay) »
Stars: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron  »
Genres: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Review I Am Number Four

Raise your hand if Disturbia, director D.J. Caruso's twist on Hitchcock's Rear Window, caught you by surprise. I had little interest going in, I'll admit. I had read the reviews and, aside from a few glowing writeups, I knew exactly what to expect. Or so I thought. Disturbia was a confidently constructed thriller more in line with Caruso's Salton Sea than his Taking Lives, and I soon found myself sitting on the proverbial edge of my seat, even when the story was at its most formulaic. A year later, I had the same reaction to Eagle Eye, a predictable but smartly shot actioner with a juicy little sci-fi center. I Am Number Four, on the other hand, is more of a mixed bag. Working with a lesser cast, a more derivative script, and a rather clunky mythos (itself derived from far more engrossing tales), Caruso struggles to build a viable film franchise on top of a crumbling foundation.

At least the film opens in style. A boy we soon learn is an acrobatic alien youngling called Number Three (Kick-Ass stunt-kid, Greg Townley) is attacked and killed in the dead of night by a toothy extraterrestrial assassin (an unrecognizable Kevin Durand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Thousands of miles away, a nasty symbol burns itself into the calf of a young man's leg. Because it's his third scar -- and because the film is called I Am Number Four -- we're immediately privy to three crucial pieces of information: we're in the presence of the titular Number Four (Alex Pettyfer, Beastly), he and his fellow superpowered humanoids share an otherworldly bond, and the boy who died moments earlier was the third of his kind to be murdered by the assassin and his villainous clan. But rather than weave a grand-scale sci-fi mystery, Caruso and screenwriters Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Marti Noxon lay out nearly everything a fledgling Number Four recruit needs know at the ten minute mark. As Number Four explains it:

"This is the part I hate the most... the running. But it's the only thing in my life that's real. The rest is a lie, even Henry." Henry being Number Four's guardian, played with direct-to-video malaise by Justified's Timothy Olyphant. "People think he's my father. He's not. He's a warrior from my planet assigned to keep me alive. I don't remember my father. All he left for me was some kind of box. Henry says he'll pass it onto me when the time is right. I got my first scar when I was nine-years old near the border of Mexico. It woke me from my sleep. It was the first sign that the Mogadorians had found us here on Earth." The Mogadorians being the rival beasties gunning for Number Four and his brethren. "The second scar came when I was twelve. I was in Colorado, in the middle of a spelling bee. As soon as I felt it, I knew Number Two was dead. Last night I got my third scar. I was just a kid when the Mogadorians invaded my planet, Lorien. Nine of us children escaped. We were gifted, meant to protect our people when we grew up. We never got the chance. Everyone was killed. We are the last of our kind. Three of us are gone. Dead. They are hunting us down, one by one, in order. I know I'm next. I am Number Four."

Do the filmmakers leave room for any mystery? Oh, there's a strange little lizard that follows Four to his new hidey-hole, a hot-headed Lorien enigma by the name of Number Six (Teresa Palmer, The Sorcerer's Apprentice), a dutiful pup who conveniently wins Four's heart, a local girl who does the same (Dianna Agron, Glee), a sudden and inexplicable surge of dangerous powers, conspiracy theorists, weird blue stones, unseen monstrosities and, of course, those pesky, singularly focused Mandalorians... erm, Mogadorians. Sorry. But until Caruso leads his hero through the requisite high school drama, bully showdowns and coming-of-age heart palpitations that litter I Am Number Four's first hour, it's all terribly uninteresting. The original young adult novel by co-authors Jobie Hughes and James Frey (yes, that James Frey) navigated similar teen-in-turmoil waters, so it only seems fair to point out that Caruso's slow buildup isn't entirely unexpected. But on screen, with flashy visual effects and plenty of 'splosions brewing in the wings, it's all a bit paint-by-genre-numbers, and the resulting extraterrestrial intrigue and schoolyard dust-ups are laborious at best. Worse, plot holes, unanswered questions and gaps in logic abound.

That changes though when the Loriens and Mogadorians finally, finally go toe-to-claw. In spite of an early shot of Palmer walking away from an exploding building in slow motion, I couldn't wrap my head around producer Michael Bay's interest in the material. But then, with thirty-five minutes left on the clock, Bay seems to step in and convince Caruso to let loose and get his gun on. The 'slpode-y third act that ensues is trashy, energy-blastin' fun, sure. But it's decent trashy, energy-blastin' fun. High-tech weaponry, telekinetic battles, Force-pushing, tragic deaths, betrayals, car-hurling, a pair of giant, four-legged Big Bads (both of which, oddly enough, resemble skinless flying squirrels), carnage courtesy of Number Six, disintegrating corpses, blazing space daggers, bio-shields, fireballs... it's fairly exciting, in that cartoonish CG, all-ages comicbook sorta way. (Although I will say it's quite possible I mistook the relief that came in the wake of the film's first two acts as excitement.) Only former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin's generic score and the cast's at-times stocky performances pose a lingering threat as Four hurtles toward his date with destiny. Ultimately, were I twelve or thirteen, I Am Number Four would no doubt thrill me to no end, sluggish stretches and all. Considering Caruso's film is based on a young adult novel, perhaps that's all that really matters.