I knew nothing about this film until my cinema buddy suggested we see it a couple of weeks ago. Since then all I'd seen about it was a few minutes of the T4 special that was on last weekend. I then found out that the film was directed by D.J. Caruso who directed one of my favourite films Disturbia and co-written by Marti Noxon who has written episodes of some of my favourite TV shows, Buffy, Angel and Grey's Anatomy.
At this point I agreed to accompany my friend and thought 'what could possibly go wrong?' As it turns out, lots!
The film opens with the murder of 'Number Three' and his guardian. Number Three is 1 of 9 aliens sent to earth to protect them from extinction by the Mogadorians who have destroyed their home planet. We join Number Four (Alex Pettyfer) as he receives a scar symbolizing the death of Number Three (he already has 2 other scars from the deaths of Number One and Number Two. NB I'm guessing this is why we start here as a film where people are referred to as Number One and Number Two might slip into farcical quite quickly). As light omits from his leg where his third scar is forming, it becomes obvious to Number Four's friends that he is no ordinary boy. Number Four is then quickly relocated to Ohio by his protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) and given a new identity, that of John Smith. There he meets a girl and falls in love (which is forever for his kind) and meets a geek who may be able to help him trace the remaining 5 of his kind.
I won't go into too much detail as I think it would be confusing (if it isn't already) and to be honest, it's not really detailed very well in the film so I'm finding it kind of hard to relay it back.
As the end credits rolled and D.J Caruso's name rolled up the screen, followed by Marti Noxon's name and finally Producer Michael Bay's name, I turned to my cinema buddy and said, "for a film that was made by so many talented people, that should have been a lot better!"
I can't really sum it up better than that, other than to say for a film I knew next to nothing about, which therefore had so little to live up to, how disappointed I was. Besides the reputations of the talent behind the film, I had no expectations. And yet somehow it didn't live up to those bare minimums. The fact that the film is produced by Michael Bay makes the awful special effects even more shocking. He can bring Optimus Prime to life yet he can't make someone doing fancy jumps and rolls look realistic? I hadn't seen Alex Pettyfer in anything and I kept thinking that he was very pretty and not a bad actor, but he had no character to develop. Yet in the reverse, it felt like the love story between John and Sarah (Dianna Agron) had developed too quickly, before we'd gotten to know them, let alone before they'd gotten to know each other. And then *spoiler alert* he rides off into the sunset with a gorgeous blonde, leaving Sarah behind but assuring her that he loves her and his kind love forever. It's fair enough to expect the audience to believe that, as we know the backstory, but are you really telling me that this teenage girl is honestly supposed to believe that her alien boyfriend isn't running off with a hotter girl? One who has a motorbike and saved his life? Coz if she does believe that, she's the most naive girl in the world.
As we left the cinema my friend turned to me and said "they've left it open for a sequel", I agreed, though am not sure how I feel about that. "The only problem with that is, what are they gonna call it? I Am Number 4 2?" I laughed so much I could barely breathe. That was the best part of the film for me. And it wasn't technically part of the film at all. A very disappointing 5 out of 10.
Memorable lines "a place is only as good as the people you know in it."
Viewing Date - 2nd March 2011
UK Release Date - 23rd February 2011
Cast Overview:
Alex Pettyfer ~ John/Number Four
Timothy Olyphant ~ Henri
Teresa Palmer ~ Number Six
Dianna Agron ~ Sarah
Callan McAuliffe ~ Sam
Kevin Durand ~ Mogadorian Commander
Jake Abel ~ Mark
Director ~ D.J. Caruso
Writers ~ Alfred Gough (Screenplay), Miles Millar (Screenplay) and Marti Noxon (Screenplay)
Jobie Hughes (Novel) and James Frey (Novel)
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