“I Am Number Four”? I am not impressed. And you won’t be either unless, maybe, you’re in high school. That’s both the primary setting and the level of sophistication of this hybrid teen romance and sci-fi thriller, which aspires to take advantage of a genre mix made popular by the “Twilight” phenomenon. This wannabe has lavish production values, considering that it is a B-movie with a cast most adults have never heard of by name. The spectacle is elaborate, with its unknown hottie headliner (Alex Pettyfer) defying laws of physics and eluding scary killer aliens. So it comes as no surprise that the successful Michael Bay is producing.
| Movie Review |
| ‘I Am Number Four’ 1 out of 5 stars |
| Stars: Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Timothy Olyphant |
| Director: D.J. Caruso |
| Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and for brief language |
| Running time: 104 minutes |
“Number Four” is a typical Bay film in many ways, though it lacks the big star power he often uses to try to legitimize his overbaked fare. To this movie’s detriment, former British model Pettyfer and his love interest, “Glee’s” Dianna Agron, lack sufficient big-screen magnetism. They can’t compensate for the good guy/bad guy action cliches and surprise-free/logic-free plotting that service the audience’s lowest common denominator in today’s release.
Cheap thrillers, especially when they appear to come from expensive computers and a serviceable director, D.J. Caruso (“Disturbia”), are still thrillers, though. And young folks need a place to canoodle in the dark. So they won’t mind the narrative poppycock, based on a book by Pittacus Lore.
To wit: High school student John Smith (Pettyfer) is really Number Four on an extraterrestrial hit list. He’s one of a handful of underage survivors from his home planet with special physical powers. Some nasty cusses called Mogadorians and their pet monsters are hunting the survivors on Earth, one at a time, in order — and John is next. But he’ll do anything to triumph so he can continue to hang out with his true love (Agron), vex the high school bully (Jake Abel), champion the class nerd (Callan McAuliffe), save our planet and otherwise experience life as an adolescent human in small-town Ohio.
The grown-up Timothy Olyphant also co-stars as John’s warrior guardian. And, of course, John meets up with another of the numbered aliens, hot female peer Number Six (Teresa Palmer). How else better to set up for a potential sequel?
