'I Am Number Four' Movie Review By Thomas Leupp

Cast

 Alex Pettyfer                      John

 Timothy Olyphant                Henri

 Teresa Palmer                     Number 6

 Dianna Agron                      Sarah

 Callan McAuliffe                  Sam

 Jake Abel                           Mark

 Jeff Hochendoner                Sherriff James

 Patrick Sebes                    Kevin

 Greg Townley                     Number 3

  Emily Wickersham             Nicole

 Molly McGinni                    Receptionist

 Brian Howe                        Frank

 Andy Owen                        Bret

I Am Number Four, a sci-fi action drama from D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) about a teenage alien’s earthly travails, has the look and feel of a CW series – i.e., lots of attractive young people, some of whom possess supernatural abilities, and superhuman amounts of angst and alienation. This is not a coincidence: Two of its screenwriters, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, happen to be the creators and executive producers of Smallville, a series chronicling Superman’s youthful pre-Metropolis years that’s now in its tenth and final season on the CW. (The script is adapted from a novel by Pittacus Lore.)

Unlike Smallville’s solitary Kryptonian, I Am Number Four’s hero is not alone. Number Four (Alex Pettyfer) is one of nine gifted residents (each branded with a number, for reasons not sufficiently explained in the film) from the planet Lorien, who fled to Earth after their civilization was annihilated by the Mogadorians, a race of mumbly, trenchcoat-clad goons with tattooed scalps hell-bent on ridding the universe of its water polo players. (Indeed, Pettyfer’s hair in the film perpetually bears that fresh-out-of-the-water look, common also to surfers and lifeguards.) Together with his anointed guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), he travels from small town to small town, adopting assumed names and trying to keep a low profile so as to avoid detection by the Mogadorians, who have followed the Loriens to earth to finish the job.

I Am Number Four skillfully mines much of the same emotional territory of the Twilight saga and its variants, albeit from a slightly geekier, less melodramatic, more male-oriented angle. (Michael Bay produced the film.) Four’s itinerant lifestyle and otherworldly heritage make the adolescent struggle to fit in all the more difficult; he’s anti-social, broods a lot, and acts out toward Henri telekinetically. (Kudos to Caruso for the unorthodox but effective choice of Olyphant, a guy who always looks to me as if he’s about to stab someone, as the father-figure). This is likely because Four is in the middle of that awkward alien superhero stage: special powers, like hands that glow brightly and emit beams of energy, spontaneously reveal themselves at inopportune times, causing him to flee from physics class, mortified. Pettyfer's really got the tormented bit down; if he can master a few more expressions, he's really gonna go places.

Despite these difficult public moments, and despite Henri’s repeated warnings to avoid earthly relationships, Four manages to strike up an inter-species romance with fellow attractive outcast Sarah (Glee's Dianna Agron), Bella Swan’s blonde equivalent, a former cheerleader who has since disavowed her popular-girl past. This in turn invites the fury of Sarah’s former boyfriend and current stalker, a bullying jock named Mark (Jake Abel).

Soon, however, Four’s rites of adolescence must take a backseat to the more pressing matter of defending his species – and his adopted planet – from the Mogadorians, who’ve tracked him to his Paradise, Ohio, location via that advanced alien technology known as YouTube. An apocalyptic battle, set at Four’s high school, ensues, during which he is joined by a fellow Lorien, Number Six (Teresa Palmer), a hot-blooded Aussie biker chick whose powers include the ability to communicate exclusively in double entendres. Four is also aided by Sarah, a UFO-obsessed sidekick (Callan McAuliffe), and a shape-shifting puppy.

I Am Number Four’s climax largely abandons its appealing Smallville ethos for something more suitable of a film bearing the name of Michael Bay, but made with a fraction of the effects budget. The orgy of destruction, involving CGI beasts and laser guns and explosions and tons of acrobatic stuntwork, comes off a tad cheap, if not a little tacky. Hopefully the filmmakers will get a bit more cash to make the sequel, which I Am Number Four's ending rather blatantly labors to set up.