I Am Number Four
In many ways it is completely fair to compare D.J. Caruso’s “I Am Number Four,” adapted from the book by Pittacus Lore, to “Twilight.” The story beats tread similar ground, and when all is said and done, there is fertile ground for a quality RiffTrax to be done here. But when this film finished, I did not feel like I wanted to kill myself as I did after watching the mind-numbing stupidity of the “Twilight” movies. True, it wouldn’t take much for a movie to accomplish that after a go with Bella and her dilemma of loving either emo vamp boy or the shirtless wolf stereotype. Simply saying “I Am Number Four” is a better film than “Twilight” doesn’t get across how MUCH better it is. Let’s put it this way: This is to “Twilight” what “Ghostbusters” is to Ivan Reitman’s 2001 retread of that formula, “Evolution.” In other words, night and day. Night and day.
“I Am Number” stars Alex Pettyfer (who is starring now in the teen “Beauty and the Beast” retread, “Beastly”) as Number 4, a youthful alien being who (along with eight others) was sent to Earth for safe keeping as the Mogadorian race (think Romulans with gills on their face) destroyed his homeworld. Number 4 (like the others) is guarded by an older man (Henri, played by Timothy Olyphant in the film’s strongest performance) who knows the real potential in what lies ahead for him. After 4 is discovered as an alien by the locals in his current home, he and Henri must relocate and end up in Paradise, Ohio. Now going by the false I.D., “John,” Number 4 tries to keep a low profile, although the jock stud, Mark (Jake Abel), makes things difficult for him when John’s path crosses with science nerd Sam (Callan McAuliffe), whose father disappeared and left a legacy of uncertainty about the cosmos, and photographer hottie Sarah (“Glee’s” Dianna Agron, a natural beauty that finds the heart of her misfit character). It’s not long, however, before the Mogadorians (who have already killed the three ahead of John) catch his scent, and the race to survive is on.
I think the central difference that causes the disparity in quality between the “Twilight” films and this potential franchise lies in the underlying material, as both have quality filmmakers and actors making them. Caruso, like “Twilight” alums Catherine Hardewicke (“Thirteen”), Chris Weitz (“The Golden Compass,” “American Pie”), and David Slade (“Hard Candy”), is a superb craftsman who has had offbeat successes, from the indie film, “The Salton Sea,” to the dual Shia LaBeouf hits, “Disturbia” and “Eagle Eye.” Like those last two films (which liberally but effectively stole from Hitchcock), it’s a lot like some more “mature” films you’ve seen (in this case, “The Matrix” comes most to mind), but what drives “I Am Number Four” is a genuine interest in more than just staging CG-augmented action scenes, although this film does that quite well. What matter most here are a story that makes sense, characters you care about, and motivations that have something more than just satisfying hormones. (Yeah, I’m calling you out again, “Twilight.”)
The screenplay by Miles Millar, Alfred Gough, and Marti Noxon is economical in the way it tells the story. You won’t find any memorable catchphrases or classic moments of dramatic tension, but the film does not suffer in their absence. This film knows what it is, and has the good sense to not try to be something it can’t be. But looking at the credits those three have to their names (Millar and Gough have story credits on “Lethal Weapon 4” and “Spider-Man 2”; Noxon is a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” vet, who was show-runner the last two years of that show’s run) and you’ll find some of the answers to “I Am Number Four’s” success, as well as some of the elements that found their way into the DNA for “I Am Number Four,” the film. This is ultimately what sets this film apart from the “Twilight” disasters: There is no indication the subversive wit of that series’s writer, Melissa Rosenberg (a long-time writer on Showtime’s “Dexter”), has been allowed to infect Stephanie Meyer’s limp prose. The fact that Caruso knows how to get solid work out of his actors (including Theresa Palmer as Number 6) and tell this type of story with energy and skill helps as well; once the action (and special effects) ramp up near the end, you’re genuinely engaged in the characters and what they’re fighting for. It’s not great filmmaking, but it is top-flight genre entertainment (something that silly vampire series has yet to achieve).
