Directed By D.J. Caruso
Starring Alex Pettyfer, Diana Agron, Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Durand and Teresa Palmer
Since Twilight hit it big, book publishers and movie studios alike have been falling over themselves to recapture that young adult literature phenomenon and turn it into paperback bestsellers, big screen franchises and tonnes of fat sackfuls of cash. Sadly, for every rare teen lit book-to-screen adaptations that finds success, there’s a handful that come along with promises of sequels and either fail miserably or just get lost in an increasingly crowded genre despite their quality. Despite relying too much on tried-and-true tropes and familiar set-ups, I Am Number Four turns the opening book in Pitacus Lore’s ‘Lorien Legacies’ series into a fun, promising start to a potential teen sci-fi action movie franchise.
John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) is an alien teenager who has spent most of his life hiding out on Earth with his warrior guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant), staying off the grid after their home planet was wiped out by a deadly race called the Mogadorians. He’s one of nine such alien teens on the planet, all hiding superpowered abilities and all being picked off by a Mogadorian bounty hunter (Kevin Durand). With three of them dead, John’s next on the list, but keeping under the radar as a normal teenager proves increasingly difficult as his powers start to emerge and he starts to fall for beautiful photography student Sarah. With the Mogadorians closing in, John will have to learn to harness his powers if he’s to have any chance of saving his life and the planet.
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For a good hour, I Am Number Four falls into a steady rhythm of familiarity. From the well-worn young adult fiction set-up of doe-eyed, introverted small-town girl meeting broody guy with otherwordly secrets, lead Alex Pettyfer contending with clichéd high school jock bullies to him leaping his way through a training montage as he gets to grips with his new-found superpowers, its hard not to feel a hefty sense of movie deja-vu.
It’s certainly enjoyable stuff; Pettyfer and Agron make for charming and attractive romantic leads, the romance is sweet enough and the supporting cast are great across the board, especially the always awesome (if entirely underused here) Timothy Olyphant. But in the opening hour, writers Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (creators of Smallville) and Marti Noxon (former writer on Buffy) never attempt to break free from that familiar supernatural teen romance mould and play it safe and generic every step of the way.
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Things pick up magnificently in the third act, though, as the film moves past the sappy, routine teen romance and shifts into sci-fi action movie territory. Director D.J. Caruso has a great eye for action, and the last half hour is an amazing barrage of thrilling, visually stylish wall-to-wall superpowered brawls and destruction that puts most of the X-Men franchise to shame. Kevin Durand has tonnes of fun hamming it up as the alien villain and Aussie hottie Teresa Palmer shows up to bring a jolt of snarky energy as Buffy-esque ass-kicker Number Six.
The well performed but by-the-numbers romance that populates the opening hour will likely be adored by those who simply can’t get enough star-crossed puppy love in their young adult adaptations, but those who’re burned out on schmaltzy supernatural teen romance might find it a bit too familiar and tiresome. Either way, it’s worth sticking it out for the barnstorming last half hour, which contains some superb superheroic action set-pieces and sows the seed for what could blossom into a great teen action franchise if it nabs a sequel.
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Aside from the usual blockbuster quality visual transfer and a DTS 5.1 HD Audio track that’ll rattle your spine during the last half hour, there’s a small, but decent selection of special features:
In this exclusive to Blu-ray feature, Caruso sets up a selection of cut and extended scenes from the film, explaining why they hit the scrap heap. They mostly flesh out John’s relationship with his Lorien guardian/father figure and expand on Henri’s investigation into John’s human friend Sam’s missing father. There’s nothing essential, but there’s more screentime for Olyphant and Durand, with an appearance by Raiders of the Lost Ark/Starman actress Karen Allen as Sam’s mother, so it’s certainly worth a watch.
An entertaining 12 minute on-set feature with Teresa Palmer talking about her character, with a lot of behind-the-scenes footage looking at the stunt work, staging the action scenes and a fun glimpse at the early pre-viz rehearsals (all staged with Nerf guns and low-fi special effects).
Three minutes or so of the cast flubbing their lines.
DTS 5.1 Spanish, Dolby Digital 5.1 Turkish and Dolby 2.0 English Audio Decription tracks are also included, along with subtitles in English, English for the hearing impaired, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Bulgarian, Turkish and Arabic. The disc is coded for Regions A, B and C.
The Film:
The Blu-ray:
I Am Number Four is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK.
Click here to order the Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk.
(Note: The images above were captured and saved at a reduced quality, and though they give an idea of how the film looks, they aren’t intended to reflect the true quality of the Blu-ray image itself.)