Number One Fan Right Here!
Trying to decide whether to see this one in theatres or not? I'll help you out. The trailers for this are excellent, but of course you've been deceived before. I went into this movie not expecting too much, bracing myself for terrible but secretly hoping for an awesome new story. I was surprised on all counts.
John Smith. The name doesn't get more generic than that and that is exactly what John's (Alex Pettyfer) guardian (Timothy Olyphant) is going for. As they move from place to place hiding John's identity as a hunted alien, John begins to discover some of his strange abilities. There were nine others like John but the first three are dead and the hunters who killed them are after John next, because he is number four.
So here's the thing, you've seen this kind of story before in Spiderman, Transformers and maybe even a little bit in Twilight. I think this is why the film is not getting great reviews. But give me a break! Every story has been done before! It is nearly impossible to create a story that doesn't in some way resemble some other story you've heard or seen at least twice. The fun of it is hearing it told differently with new people and flavors and characters. I Am Number Four has some new actors who are refreshing to watch, (my favorites were Timothy Olyphant and Callan McAullife) great effects and a fantastic storyline.
I think director D.J. Caruso succeeded in telling this story with flare and suspense. From the very first scene and even through the slower middle parts I was tense, waiting for something to jump through the bushes and attack. Some may feel like the story didn't develop enough but if the movies are really going to follow the books by Pittacus Lore (and how much to we love the name Pittacus?) then there's more to come. Anyway, I'll stop defending myself, I loved it. I don't care who knows it! I thought it was great!
Motherly Advice: While I did compare this to Transformers, I liked it better for the lack of so much female objectifying alone. There was some language in it and a beach scene with binkini clad girls at the beginning but no sex. The thing that will keep you from taking your younger kids and teens are the intense action scenes, violence and creepy bad aliens with ceepy bad creatures accompanying them. There were some pretty violent/gruesome parts in this besides just your regular fight scenes. While no, gruesome parts weren't bloody and graphicly seen, I have a pretty high def imagination and the implications were enough to really gross me out. So if you're gonna see this in theaters I'd take your kids 16 and over.
Danielle'-My Next Dog Will Be A Beagle (preferrably one from Lorien)
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