Review of I Am Number Four (2011) by Matthew W — 15 Jul 2012

I am disturbed. I originally watched this movie when it came out in theaters last year and enjoyed it. This was prior to having any knowledge of the book series and having the anticipation building the weeks prior to its release watching the trailer. I have since read the book(s).

From the very beginning of the movie I was angry. From how the film's main character is forced to up and leave town to how he meets his love interest and their first kiss is so.. wrong. Normally when you get a book-to-cinema there are holes, things left out because the director finds them irrelevant or there is simply not enough time to include everything. Normally, these are annoyances, but ones you forget about. It is hard to brush them off when they are happening every two minutes.

Then we have the glaring problems..the blatant rewrites that make your shake your head. Example: Henri, Johns "Cepan"(Guardian and mentor) travels to a home in Athens, Ohio to investigate a lead after reading in a magazine that the publisher has information about the Loriens and Mogadorians that no human should have. The movie has Henri disappear to attempt to take down a firewall to delete a video of John off of the internet. John then receives a phone call after noticing Henri is gone and a voice tells him to come to Indiana if he wants to find out where Henri is. I understand rewriting something, such as adding a fight scene to please the audience(the first Twilight). What I don't understand is blatantly butchering the script with no benefit whatsoever. I could continue for pages in regards to what was done wrong but I will not.

I feel the characters fit, probably because I saw the movie first. My only gripe is Six not having Raven-black hair.

This movie is close to two hours long and yet character development and back-story are scarce. John and Henri feel like they barely know each other. The conversations feel forced and awkward and their origin stories are practically dismissed as nothing.

John and Sarah go from awkward conversations to a make-out session in front of her home in a matter of minutes.

Despite all of its flaws and neglect, I am currently so enthralled with the Lorien Legacies that it's nice to be able to sit back and experience the universe on the big screen. I'm sure I'll watch it again.