Quick Take: I Am Number 4

I went into the movie with very low expectations. I heard a lot of bad things about this film. I also heard it is worse if you have read the book. The best I can say is I didn't hate the movie. They handled the movie wrong but I didn't hate it.

The first thing they did wrong was that they made bad choices with the casting of the film.
Alex Pettyfer as John was all wrong. I'm sure he's a fine actor but a horrible choice for the main role of John. The character was supposed to be slightly geeky and a liner but the had the guy doing flips on a jet-ski. I also did not like Timothy Olyphant as Henri. He is a fine actor but felt out of place in this film.  Also Number Six is supposed to have dark hair. Did the movie really need to cast a blond. Could they not find a good dark haired actress for the role. And if you were so sure of the actress why not dye her hair for the few scenes she was in. The only roles that were acceptable casting choices were Sam and Sarah but they were overwhelmed by the other poor choices.

The next thing that I didn't like was that they undersold the relationship between John and Henri. In the book you really felt like they were a father and son even if they weren't. The movie version of John is resentful and even slightly unlikable. And Henri lost all the personality he had in the book. I felt little emotion during Henri's death scene and that scene was emotional in the book.

The same could be said about the friendship between John and Sam. The movie makes it seem like they are only friends out of circumstance rather then the way the book actually let them grow as friends.

The movie did handle the John and Sarah relationship well which doesn't surprise me since it was written by the creators of Smallville. But then they botched the role of Mark.

With the book you felt like things were happening even through it moved slowly. And once the action started it moved at a quick pace and stayed interesting. In the movie the action felt rushed and over before it really started. I also didn't like how quickly John learned to control his powers. I understand it was s two hour movie but they could have had him struggle a little bit.

The one thing they did do well was the soundtrack. The music followed well and I loved the use of "Letters from the Sky" by Civil Twilight over the ending.

I think I actually liked the movie better because I've read the book. At least with reading the book I had things to look for and compare. For those who only watched the movie nothing exciting happens and it would have been a disappointment for a so called action film.