I Am Number 4

As far as I am concerned, Director D.J. Caruso is 3 for 3 on his last three films. Disturbia (NBM Review), Eagle Eye (NBM Review), and now I Am Number 4. I have wanted to see this ever since the day I first saw the trailer. It just looked interesting. The trailers do a decent job of selling the plot, while at the same time tells us nothing about anything about what we are about to see. We basically know these people with "special powers" are being hunted and killed in the order they were created. That's what I got out of it. I also thought the main guy didn't know what he was, and Timothy Olyphant was sort of a stalker/protector that only meets him when his life is in extreme peril. Not the case. They actually live together and pose as father and son while on Earth. He does protect him, but Number 4, aka John Smith, doesn't know any other way of life. Constantly on the move, John never has an opportunity to set up roots, or have friends, or fall in love, and that's really the heart of the film. A 17 year old boy tired of running from persons he doesn't know, for reasons he doesn't care about. Number 4 knows he is next in line to be killed. Numbers 1-9 are being hunted and killed in that order and every time one of them is killed a scar symbol is burned into the leg of the remaining few. The movie jumps right into the hunting of Number 3 and what I am writing is not all that spoiler-ish, because the entire back story is given just out of the opening credits. The Numbers are being hunted by a tribe of people called The Mogadorians, or Mogs as they are called throughout to keep the run time at a reasonable rate. A very unpleasant bunch, that look as hideous as they act. The way the make these guys look is very comic book, and I really loved it. Essentially they cannot have these supernaturals alive for their plans to move forward. Henri (Olyphant) delivers as he always does. His short responses are comically perfect, along with sharp wit and sarcasm, one again he makes me realize why I love him so much as a leading man in Hollywood today. The story is not all fights and killing and powers, ala X-Men. It's more about a young man struggling to fit in with others, and himself. It really turns into a coming of age story more than anything. When he meets a girl in the new town they move to, he finally decides to stop running and fight back. This is where the film goes from high school, teenage stuff to downright awesome action and fights. What you don't expect in this type of film are the presence of so many laughs. At times it feels like a comedy and for that we thank you. The special effects are flawless, and the creatures are amazing. Like most all movies, this one comes down to a final battle. Unlike the other films, this one's final battle lasts about 20 minutes and has the best use of surround sound I have ever witnessed at a theater viewing. My seat was vibrating during certain scenes, and shaking during others. It really felt like we were apart of the battle. We did see it in the smallest theater in the place which probably helped acoustically achieve that. I do a good job as a critic of not taking notes or even thinking about how I am gonna write about something when I first watch it. I do however usually have a rating in mind that I feel it will be given. Let's just say that I Am Number 4 eclipsed my pre-conceived notion. The leading lady is a newbie who attractiveness is second only to the other lady who plays Number 6. On a completely different note, the soundtrack is brilliant. Maybe just because I love every song that I recognized which were most of them. Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, XX, and Civil Twilight. The last time a movie had a soundtrack I really connected to was for Varsity Blues, and from that same year the highly underrated Disturbing Behavior.

NBM rates I Am Number 4 - Phenomenal

Based on the books by pittacus Lore called Lorien Legacies