Synopsis
Three are dead. Who is Number Four? From director D.J. Caruso (Disturbia), producer Michael Bay (Transformers) and the writers of TV’s Smallville, comes this gripping, action-packed thriller. John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) is an extraordinary teen masking his true identity to elude a deadly enemy sent to destroy him. Living with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) in the small town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events — his first love (Dianna Agron, TV’s Glee), powerful new abilities and a secret connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.
Having seen the previews for this and the marketing, I didn’t have much faith in I Am Number Four. It looked like another teen film with a sci-fi mix, which isn’t saying much these days (what’s up Twilight?!!). Taking a leap of faith, and just dying to expand the movie database in my brain, I watched the 109-minute film. What I came away with surprised me just a bit; I actually liked it. Was it perfect? Lord, no. Did it have elements that made it fun and enjoyable? Definitely, yes. Let’s break this sucker down.
The good parts about I Am Number Four can be separated by two things: Characters and potential. The characters in the film were a lot stronger than I imagined; especially with Alex Pettyfer’s John. He’s a good looking man, who played the perfect young adult that was dying to be free from his parental (sorta) restrictions. He was believable from the moment he entered the scene and he led with his acting with his expressions, which help shape him. In other words, he was a great protagonist. The next good character, which didn’t last long enough or expand enough, was Timothy Olyphant’s Henri. He played the perfect parental figure in John’s life and he broke out a bit of the physical action he’s good at when called upon. Regretfully, he didn’t fight enough in the film. If it were up to me I would have made him pivotal in the end fight scene, but alas he was not. Henri was a strong character that kept the story’s tension in place and strong. As for the others, well they didn’t work out quite as well, but it didn’t really matter. Straight out of a CW show, Dianna Agron’s Sarah and Callan McAuliffe’s Sam were placeholders for humanity at best. Had they been nixed halfway through the film you probably wouldn’t miss them in the story too much. The last character that didn’t get enough screen time to care about too much was Teresa Palmer’s Number 6. I’m not sure what the intention was with her, but there wasn’t enough intention! She was one of the most badass characters… if she had only been it much longer than 10-minutes; what a waste.
The two main characters were strong enough to keep the story fresh, especially Pettyfer’s.
Characters don’t work too well without a strong story and this movie had potential for that. While it certainly had holes left and right in the overall body of work, I appreciated where Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and D.J. Caruso were taking the entire thing. Aliens being hunted down by aliens and doing their best to survive; fun stuff on paper. The idea could lend to many different directions, each full of action. What’s even cooler about this story is that there were a limited number of heroes from a dying civilization and each one had to grow to a certain age to fully gain their powers. Having antagonist race against time to exterminate the good guys before they became heroes brought some great tension and potential to the storyline. The limited group of bad guys means that there are more bad guys out there to take their place (which means you can create another story around this original story). Again, the potential for greatness was and is there for I Am Number Four.
The downer about potential is that you never know what you’re going to get (ask the NBA who drafts on potential). The story had some fantastic elements to make it great, including some really fun action scenes. The problem with the film is that it didn’t tell enough of the story to make people understand the situation. We never truly got to know John Smith or his people. We never truly knew the reason why his race was such a threat to our antagonist’s race. We didn’t get any details whatsoever to make a solid connection to what was happening to John Smith and what that meant ultimately. The story needed a great backstory, but never got it.
On top of this, the story became somewhat of a mess with too many ideas/unnecessary characters emerging. You have Sam’s story, which never gets solved. You have Number 6’s story that never gets a solid explanation or any sort of depth added to it. You have an empty story with Sarah that never comes to fruition. Gough and Millar’s screenplay seems way too cluttered and director D.J. Caruso should have seen that before production started. Had they introduced 6 sooner or just nixed her would have made the story stronger. Had they given a bit less goofy tale to Sam or just nixed Sam altogether might have meant a better story. As for Sarah, nix her or kill her, but don’t just leave her there because she’s useless otherwise. The writing just got too messy once our character hit his main town.
So is the movie still fun? Go into with the idea that the story introduced has some neat potential. Enjoy the banter between Olyphant and Pettyfer (they do well together). Finally, understand there is some good action and solid moments to be had with this film. Just don’t look for a complete package.
With that said, let’s discuss the Blu-ray.
The Blu-ray for I Am Number Four is pretty solid. You’ll think the picture looks pretty good (no grain/artifacts at all) and that will change once John gets his powers. Once the special effects hit the screen you’ll see some sharp HD with the great lighting effects that come with the film. Depending on very bright whites contrasting with the dark around it, you’ll find the film to be very gorgeous on a 1080p screen. It’s disappointing that the film was middle of the road because the high definition quality is so damn good. On top of this, the audio comes to you in 5.1 DTS-HD. For a sci-fi/action film you couldn’t ask for a better mastering than what is provided with I Am Number Four; especially at the end with the big, action climax of the film. It sounds positively beautiful.
As for the features included, you get some solid material. Here’s what you’re looking at:
· 6 Deleted Scenes with Introductions by Director D.J. Caruso
o “Strangers in Paradise” (Extended)
o “Sam’s Mom”
o “Worth Mentioning”
o “Power Prank”
o “Trying to Connect”
o “Extended Warsaw Basement”
· “Becoming Number 6” Featurette
· Bloopers
This is one of those rare moments where the deleted scenes might have helped. The scenes are good, for the most part; they’re made better by a nice introduction by director D.J. Caruso. On top of the deleted scenes you also get a nice featurette on Teresa Palmer’s Number 6 character, which gives details about her selection and what she had to go through in her role. Finally, you get some very solid bloopers that feature a lot of Timothy Olyphant moments (that guys is hilarious, if not a bit creepy).
Anyway, for a film like I Am Number Four you can’t really ask for more than this.
