When I bought my ticket for “I Am Number Four,” I wasn’t aware that Lord Voldemort was going to make a cameo appearance.
But as I took my seat and the first scene of the film started, that was my initial thought exactly. The Mogadorians, creatures who I think look like Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series, were some of the first characters that were introduced. Now, I almost wish Lord Voldemort was in this movie. He would have at least made it interesting.
Alex Pettyfer plays Number Four, an alien from the faraway planet of Lorien who is more commonly known by his human name of John Smith. He is on the run with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) from the Mogadorians, along with eight other aliens that came from his home planet.
After a war on Lorien against the Mogadorians, only nine creatures from Lorien escaped and they fled to Earth. The bad guys followed them and are now hunting down all nine, in order.
As Henri and John run away from the Mogadorians, they come across Paradise, Ohio, where John meets Sam Goode (Callan McAuliffe) and Sarah Hart (Dianna Agron). Sam becomes John’s best friend and is also a devoted believer in aliens and alien conspiracies. John finds himself falling in love with Sarah, a human, even though Henri warns him not to.
With bad guys that look like Lord Voldemort, a teen romance between a human and alien, resembling the romance between Bella and Edward in “Twilight,” is anything about this movie original?
The movie finished with a huge, action-packed fight between John and the Mogadorians. When the final credits rolled, I was a bit confused. Did the screenwriters believe that just by making an intense fight at the end of the movie, it would make me forget how unimpressed I was with the rest of the film?
This movie left me with more questions than answers, and not in a good way. Important questions that would help viewers to better understand the characters and plot were never resolved.
Why do the Mogadorians want to kill the nine Loriens? Why did Smith (and the other eight) choose Earth? Why do the survivors have to be killed in order? If the Mogadorians know that the nine of them are on Earth, why don’t they leave and flee to a different planet?
These are all questions I guess I will never know the answer to.
“I am Number Four” was decent if you have nothing better to do on a Friday night, and it wouldn’t be the absolute worst choice out of the movies currently playing. The ending sets itself up for a sequel, but based off of my judgment of the first movie, I wouldn’t expect that it would be worth the eight dollars I spent for a ticket.
Caroline Spath is a multimedia editor for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com