I am Number Four

To be honest, the back-story of I am Number Four is quite long-winded and likely to take up much space. It’s still a decent sci-fi adventure, so that’s not much of a bad thing.

The aforementioned back-story involves evil Mogadorians, who make a living trashing other planets. One of them was Lorien, where Number Four, alias John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), was originally from. Now on Earth, he and eight other survivors have the special powers needed to thwart the destroyers. For reasons of plot convenience, they can only be killed off in numerical order.

With Numbers One through Three already space dust, Four heads off with his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to Paradise, Ohio. In his new High School, he instantly falls for aspiring photographer Sarah (Dianna Agron) and attracts the attention of the school bully. He also gets super powers, such as shooting light from his hands, which comes in handy when the bad guys show up in town.

Having previously directed two Shia LaBeouf vehicles, Disturbia and Eagle Eye, director DJ Caruso turned his cinematic attention to the same-named novel by the duo of Pittacus Lore. Half of this duo is James Frey, author of the infamous memoir A Million Little Pieces. At least here, the film can’t be accused of fraud; it can, however, be accused of over-abundance.

Its fight scenes emphasize big effects and fast cuts over a steady editing style. A few important plot points, such as the true identity of Four’s dog, are shoved into the last half-hour, when our attention is supposed to be on the final battle. It’s distracting, for sure, especially for the most unwary viewers.

What makes this worth it is that the characters aren’t entirely lost in the cool FX. The heroes are still likable, the villains are campily evil and the dog, Bernie, is the best. If one can keep focus, they’ll see a decent, early year sci-fi flick under the noise.