I Am Number Four

Plot synopsis:
A prelude of the killing of one of the Garde children—No. 3—by Mogadorians. This story is about a 15-year-old boy named John Smith. He has been on the run from the age of 4, and he is from a planet called Lorien.
Most of the book is told in the first-person by Number Four, who takes the name John Smith. As the story begins, he and his guardian or Cepân, Henri, learns of the death of Number Three and move to Paradise, Ohio, assuming new identities. There, John befriends conspiracy theorist Sam Goode and "adopts" a dog identified by its name tag as "Bernie Kosar". He also meets and is attracted to a fellow student, Sarah Hart, who is working as a photographer. Sarah's ex-boyfriend, football player Mark James, is a bully who torments both John and Sam.
During the Halloween festival Sam mentions that he knows about Mogadorians from a magazine, They Walk Among Us, a revelation that alarms both John and Henri. Mark and his friends organize a nasty surprise during the haunted hayride: Sarah, John and Sam are left stranded in the woods, where Mark plans to beat John up. John uses his "legacies", which are akin to superpowers, to fend off his attackers and rescues Sarah. In the darkness Sarah does not see John use his legacies, and he quietly warns Mark not to talk (or to let his friends talk) about what happened.
Sarah and John's relationship develops. Henri continues training John to use his legacies, now with an increasing sense of urgency. Henri is unsettled, and tells John that it is not safe to stay. He is also concerned as John is late in developing his telekinesis, a power that he will need to fight the Mogadorians. Later, it is revealed that Sam has seen enough to arouse his suspicions, but John allays them by bluffingly 'admitting' to being an alien. He finds out more about the magazine Sam reads by borrowing a copy. Sam speaks of his belief that his father has been abducted by aliens.
Henri discovers where the magazine is printed, and drives the two-hour car trip to Athens, Ohio, to find out more. John attends a Thanksgiving dinner with Sarah's family, but worries about Henri, who does not answer text messages. In his agitated state, John's telekinetic power manifests, though uncontrolled, and he leaves. He calls Sam for help, and they take Sam's father's long-unused truck and head for Athens, where they succeed in rescuing Henri. During the rescue, Sam is made fully aware of John's and Henri's alien secret, and John's legacies develop significantly. On their return, Henri insists they leave Paradise. John refuses, using his new found powers to express his adamance, and Henri relents.
A few months pass, during which John trains in the use of his legacies. Henri gradually relaxes as John becomes more adept. At a party at Mark's house, a major fire breaks out, trapping Sarah, so John uses his powers to rescue her. He then reveals his secret to Sarah, and they lie to the police and a reporter about what happened. Later on, John also lies to Henri, in order not to reveal how much he has told Sarah.
But John's lies are revealed when a video is released on YouTube. Henri is furious, and demands they leave immediately. John again uses his powers to stop him, and desperately races to the school, knowing that Sarah is in danger. He finds Sarah, but the Mogadorians have already arrived. The Mogadorians have brought an enormous beast called Piken, and smaller, but still deadly, creatures called Krauls. These creatures are sent to track and kill the Loric. John and Sarah are joined by Number Six (who has been looking for them since Three's death) and later by Henri, Mark, and Bernie Kosar ("the dog"). John sends Mark off, exhorting him to protect Sarah. A furious battle ensues, during which Six exhibits powers of invisibility and control of the weather, and Bernie Kosar is revealed to be a Chimæra. Sam arrives partway through the battle.
John kills a soldier, Bernie Kosar battles a Piken, and at key moments John is helped by his human friends, but in the end they are depleted and weakened by numbers and power. Six is wounded and taken to relative safety. John uses an ability he was barely aware of to communicate with a beast brought by the Mogadorians and to turn it against them. Henri is killed, but before dying exhorts John to read a letter he left for him. John survives, though he is very weak, and the Mogadorians are defeated.
Promising to return for Sarah, John leaves Paradise, along with Number Six, Sam, and Bernie Kosar.

Tags: mystery, murder, paranormal, good versus evil, action, romantic

Review:
Do you know that old movie rule that you subconsciously decide whether you're going to enjoy a film or not within the first ten minutes?
She comes across very natural, so that the love story that unfolds is actually engaging instead of vomit-inducing like that of that other movie with the whining Vampires and the shirtless Werewolves.Of course, "I Am Number Four" is by no means a great movie.
Characters are stereotypical, things fall into place way too conveniently and one has the feeling that a good junk of the original novel has just been crammed together to (barely) fit into the running time of a popcorn movie.However, I think we can all agree that it would be silly to actually expect a masterpiece, considering the movie's premise.
Add to that the fact that this movie is neither a sequel nor a remake, that it's not based on a comic book, a TV series, a computer game or toys, and it's enough to lift "I Am Number Four" heads and shoulders above its genre competitors..
This movie is entertainment for all viewers that delivers a good story, action, and desire to want more at the end.
The best part about this film: the love story within the plot WAS NOT painful/annoying to watch (such as Twilight).This movie is definitely worth seeing in theaters, as the action scenes truly make the experience.
We actually cared about what happened to them (something that I can't say about other book-to-movie Harry-Potter-wannabes.) Even number Six, a bad-ass female with Nightcrawler-like power was lovable!Finally, the storyline was engaging and easy to understand.
I understood it just fine without having read the book, and there was no point in the movie where I felt that things were moving too slowly (nor to quickly, for that matter.)I would urge you not to take any of the negative reviews written by middle-aged men to heart - spend the 10 bucks and give this movie a chance.
I was worried that the relationship between the main character and the photographer would run away with itself and overtake the plot as is seen is so many decent movies ruined by pointless teen relationships.
Characters are stereotypical, things fall into place way too conveniently and one has the feeling that a good junk of the original novel has just been crammed together to (barely) fit into the running time of 90 minutes.
The story feels a bit weak and there are so many plot holes it takes away part of the enjoyment like if the nine aliens are so powerful, why can't they stop those Mogadorians?
I will say I was interested and intrigued when the film was attempting to do something with the plot and overarching story, but these moments are never given the chance to fully develop.This Twilight series' formula might cheer up the hearts of teenage girls, but males with an ounce of testosterone will grow increasingly restless as they await the arrival of the action that the film's trailer promised.
I was intrigued from the early moments in the film where it started to set the plot into motion, and the need for John and Henri to keep running to avoid death.
A last minute save in the final act of the film where it shifts back into the realm of sci-fi in the form of a machina known as Number Six (Teresa Palmer) who proceeds to kick a satisfying amount of rampage against the backdrop of CGI and special-effects, is not nearly enough to make up for well over an hour of melodrama and teen angst.Acting wise, Alex Pettyfer is just plain with no expression but of course teenage girls will love him for his looks and physique.
And then there's the relative newcomer Callan McAuliffe stuck in the cliché- ridden role as the know-it-all geek of a best friend though he's fine in whatever he has.All this said, though this movie isn't the best action film of the year, its still worth a watch for the CGI and the last act of the movie.
The first 40 minutes it felt like I was watching a re-hashed "Twilight" movie rather than a sci-fi/horror pic.
It was well worth the watch if you can make it through that first half of beaten to death formula high school angst movies that Twilight has seemed to spawn.
The acting was good, there were very nice special effects and some pretty cool alien bad guys in the style of "Pinhead.".
Unfortunately, very few things worked in this movie (at least in my personal experience), because I could never get interested in the characters or in their forced romance, and much less in the horribly trite sci-fi concepts with which it pretends to adorn its tiring narrative.To start with...Mogadorians?
In fact, I think the film would have been much more entertaining with her in the leading role, instead of the insipid couple of Alex Pettyfer and Dianna Agron.
If you would pay a film admission price to watch two hours of predictable, cliché, and poorly acted supernatural teen soap drama, you may enjoy this movie.
The only good thing that came of seeing this film is that now I can warn others to stay away from it.If you have a craving for supernatural action-drama, turn on your TV or visit a streaming TV site and choose any show in that genre at random; I have no doubt you will find something equally "good", but more likely far better than this, for a bargain..
I honestly believe that if this film wasn't put together by these two doofuses, then there might have been something here.Bottom Line.......This movie would be great for your 8 year old.
As usual the actors are all too old to be playing school children, and the film just doesn't get any better.This film hits every cliché in the book, and combined with the poor acting and absent story line it is one of the worst films I have ever seen, almost funny it's so bad, do not watch!!
Its so slowly moving and loud, seeing the trailers for the past weeks before it came out was a huge way to spark up the hype for me into seeing this movie and what i got in repay was this.The story started off slow, i was confused during its first big bang of arousing, exciting Special effects and wait oh crap its that damn sound again, then coming from the guy who made disturbia i was very embarrassed that he made this movie so boring, Disturbia had me on the edge of my seat through the whole movie, but this!
Not Dr. Who, nor Star Wars, this teens gone alien is meant to follow the fangs of the silly Twilight series with an action-alien shoot 'em up for boys genre.With the exception of Timothy Olyphant as Henri, the acting is monosyllabic, bully quarterback, high school dork, scenario.
Or is just because aliens like to study real hard?Read more here: http://localmoviereview.com/i-am-number-four-movie- review/.
My kind of flick.I haven't read the books but here's hoping there's a second film because man this was so entertaining!Highly recommend watching this on the big screen.
At times the movie gets so bad that its actually funny.The only reason I did not walk out of the theater was the expensive cinema ticket.I appreciate this may upset hardcore fans, but please understand that a bad movie is still bad even if you like it.One can only hope that the producers will show mercy and not try and create a sequel out of this (even though plenty of hints were thrown at us suggesting that the suffering is not over yet).One last thing, the special effects; You can probably see better with a play station 2 or the original x-box.
The script is not good, the actors are doing what they can with it (though Dianna Agron's acting leaves something to be desired), I don't quite know what's going on with the direction, and the story itself is haphazard at best.
THe main character,John (Alex Pettyfer) is fairly shallow and I suppose OK for the teenage girls to notice.I found Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to be a more substantial and interesting character considering his limited dialog.
This was a really bad movie.The story is relatively good, although it certainly does contain many clichés.
Following the life of an alien boy (Alex Pettyfer) as he moves from town to town with his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), changing identities and hoping to stay hidden from the band of evil Mogadorians that are bent to destroy him and those of his kind that remain.
Things begin to heat up for John, though, as he begins to gain his powers and feel a connection with the others like him; he also falls in love with a girl (Dianna Agron) for the first time.
If you're looking to have a great time at the movies and stay on the edge of your seat as you're engulfed in an intense adventure, definitely see this film.
The plot has the usual flaws of this type of film, with the complete destruction of the school without any witness or clothing that does not burn, and the clichés such as a teen romance and the bully at school, but maybe that is why it is so good.The character Number Six "steals" the film with her appearance in the high-school.
I AM NUMBER FOUR starts out well enough: a handsome young lad going by the name of John Smith (Alex Pettyfer, 21 year old British actor) and his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) have moved to a small Ohio town to avoid being found and killed by an alien group who seek to diminish John Smith's confreres in order (John is number four), having just killed number three whose son Sam (Callan McAuliffe, 16 year old Australian newcomer) happens to live in the little town.
Before it becomes hilariously silly there are some pretty decent performances by Olyphant, Pettyfer and McAuliffe that make the film worth watching.
Man am I gonna get chewed on for this"I Am Number Four" is the perfect date movie, filled with action, romance and intrigue, with lots of great special effects and some nice characterization, a fantastic plot and definitely a good movie to munch popcorn to, no?That would be the case had this plot not been used frequently in many movies before.
Kevin Durand, under some good make-up, looks like he's enjoying himself as the main villain here, but Callan McAuliffe does a surprisingly good job as the sidekick who rarely in movies like these, DOESN'T makes an ass of himself AND becomes a sympathetic character too.The film is technically well made, of course being a major studio picture.
Yu re supposed to "look" like a bully!This movie works very well as your run of the mill good versus evil alien story with a unoriginal teenage romance forced in.
I connected to the story and the characters as well as the actors, and I have no problem saying it is one of the best Science Fiction films I have a seen in years!
The movie follows his efforts to blend in as a teenager on Earth to hide from the aliens inexplicably determined to kill every member of his species.However, Number Four has a tough time blending in – as it turns out his dazzling good looks and uncontrollable superpowers (such as his hands, which, upon occasion, emit bright beams of light).
I didn't like this movie, the story line played out so perfect that it didn't seem believable at all the characters didn't have much background and the villains looked like they were from the powerangers show.
I know they were trying to play into this tween crowd with a good looking cast and I know a complex plot line would not hold the attention of the add kids today but come on why wasted a good script on a boring teen movie.
If you feel you must read/watch this story, wait for the DVD release or borrow the book.I Am Number Four is centered around John, a 15-year-old alien and his guardian Henri.
If you cross X-Files with Twilight, you'll know all you need to know about I am Number Four, a sci-fi telling about good aliens among us running from bad ones.
The torture for me is not the taciturn James Franco-look-alike hero, John (Alex Pettyfer), with not even a modicum of intelligent lines; the real torture is the teen-age longing, brought to its max, I thought, by the lovers in Twilight (Edward and Bella—how could you forget?) but now revived, a word hardly appropriate for this film and better suited to a zombie production.
This movie has great special effects and sets up nicely for a sequel.
A film targeted at young adults, "I am Number Four" starts with some compelling action, then settles into a typical teen high school story--with budding love, the school bully, and the kid who is picked on--with a twist of mystery.
And there are a few plot twists that keep things interesting, even if they are sometimes telegraphed to the audience ahead of time.Dianna Agron ("Glee") is the object of John's affection, but romance is not the center of this film.
Callan McAuliffe is effective in the role of Sam, the misfit who John takes under his wing.The film is tailor-made for a sequel, but it appears none is in the works at this time.
It has a 'Twilight'-ish feel to it with typical teenage angst, high-school issues and some light romance, but on the other side its also a pretty cool sci-fi flick with great special effects and some interesting/unique bad guys.It follows "John Smith" who is from another planet, (literally).
The way the bad guys were introduced made me believe that they were going to be just a bunch of mindless creatures that want to kill everything and everyone in their path.But then came the boss villain played by Kevin Durand in "The Gadget Scene." I won't dare say another word about it here, let's just say that that scene saved the movie and made it much more interesting.Kevin Durand is the boss of all the villains in this film and does a great job.
His best performance (in my opinion)is as Little John alongside Russell Crowe in "Robin Hood" Until Kevin Durand is offered the kind of film projects that are going to show fans just how good of an actor he really is, we'll have to settle for his occasional bad guy roles.
I am, probably, too old but this movie, with impressive special effects, a nice love story, after old tale about Romeo and Juliet, with good performance of Timothy Olyphant , expressionless but brawl star Alex Pttyfer is really boring.
nothing but fun action.Cute acting, cute plot, super powers, eternal love, all you would want in a night at the movies.I say vote with your dollars America.
If this weren't bad enough the guy is coping with being a teenager and the fact that he is growing to have super-powers.When I saw the trailers for this film I was thinking "popcorn amusement with action sequences and nothing more than that".
It had a great storyline I thought and amazing action scenes and romance and really good graphics which is enough to make me fall in love with it and wish they would make the sequels because I'd for sure watch them on the opening weekend to find out more of the exciting adventure, as long as they keep up the great quality!!!
Pettyfer works alongside special effects exemplifying his powers and a cliché plot to create a very entertaining film, showing that he is a star in the making."I Am Number Four" lucked out with a very good young cast, however, the seasoned Teresa Palmer failed to provide support.
The special effects associated with them along with the animated creatures in the film lacked identity, coming off as fake.A roller coaster ride through a vortex of ups and downs, and of good and bad leaves the "I Am Number Four" series a lot of room for improvement.
After 10 minutes you get aware that you will watch nothing else, then a mixture of common scenes that you have seen 100 times before.The movie does not even have a story.
This could have been released straight into DVD no problem, like twilight and many other recent films that have started to fill the market with stupid plots for teenagers.
Yes the storyline has been done many times before but it wasn't a bad attempt and what I think was almost a teenage X-men film.Pettyfer was very good in his role of John, he was convincing in his role.
If I want to see something like that I could watch an episode from The O.C. There were some cool action scenes, yes, but that was completely overrun by the boring and totally predictable story-telling.
Good movie you can watch one time The story is decent, acting decent, movie is not slow it's average and.
Not the best movie of the year, but it is a very good and entertaining movie, combining action, a good plot and a few good jokes.What may have caused some people to not like it is that is obviously the first of a series of movies, so it has the trouble to explain a lot of things while leaves some others unexplained.I just want to ask the producers to film the number 6 movie, I can guarantee that will have a lot more success than number 4..
After the death of Number Three we see loner John (Alex Pettyfer) a teenage alien on Earth who has fled his planet from the Mogadorians and he moves swiftly from one town to another.
The film has some good special effects and action scenes but really it follows the template of many of these Young Adult adaptations..
You will enjoy this movie if you have read the book or like action and horror.