Title: I Am Number Four
Director: D.J. Caruso
Script: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Marti Noxon
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron
Cert: 12A
Time: 109 minutes
Nine (teenage) aliens with super-human powers are sent to Earth to hide from the villainous Mogadorians who destroyed their home planet and tried to completely eradicate their species. Each of them has a warrior at his or her side to defend them against the Mogadorians but the first three have already been murdered. Now John and his ‘Dad’ must pass as humans and stay under the radar of the Mogadorians to avoid being the next casualties.
This is essentially a romantic teen thriller in which John falls for any girl in his vicinity and they do likewise, much to the chagrin of his ‘Dad’. But the leads are likeable and the girls that John falls for are hot so teens should be happy.
Alex Pettyfer is the eponymous teen superhero Number Four who falls for the shy girl at school, Sarah (Dianna Agron)… but does he wish he hadn’t when the even hotter and more combat-ready Number 6 (Teresa Palmer) turns up? Number six has a lot more skills and kills several Mogadorians with style to spare.
The Mogadorians themselves have weird faces with gills at the sides of their noses, spiky teeth and lots of tattoos and they really like big guns. They are quite scary and the violence is pretty intense when you consider the rating of the film is a 12A.
The film is well directed and the action scenes are fun. The CGI is a bit ropey at times but the acting is decent all round easily from the ever dependable Timothy Olyphant.
It’s an enjoyable and fast paced teen film that will no doubt spawn at least one or two sequels… no doubt named I Am Number 42 and I Am Number 43.
