Visitors Review

Pascal Zinken (2012-05-25 23:37)

Messy

A young guy is raised by his guardian. This guardian also protects himfrom who is tracking them - and that's a good thing because apparentlythose trackers are not the most friendly and want the guy killed. Ifthis weren't bad enough the guy is coping with being a teenager and thefact that he is growing to have super-powers.When I saw the trailers for this film I was thinking "popcorn amusementwith action sequences and nothing more than that". Nothing wrong withthat sometimes so maybe it was worth a watch. When the film started toplay though it became clear very quickly that this wasn't entirely whatthe film wanted to be.Instead it is a combination of teenager peer-pressure drama, younglove, impossible choices and melodrama. It's not quite as bad asTwilight in these, but it's still pretty bad. Tossing all these effectsinto a film that lives on action sequences though makes for a verychaotic and messy end result. It flops from left to right and leavesits audience confused and bored in the middle.If there's one advice to give to the makers of this film it is: "pick atheme and stick to it". Either one of the themes above might have madefor a better film, but this is just nothing good, forgotten the instantthe end-credits start.4 out of 10 forgettable heroes

Allen Williams (2012-05-25 20:30)

Kevin Durand Steals The Show....

When I first started to watch this film, I was worried that thevillains in this story were not going to work. Like in "IndependenceDay" or the animated "Titan A.E." The villains had no substance inthose films at all. The way the bad guys were introduced made mebelieve that they were going to be just a bunch of mindless creaturesthat want to kill everything and everyone in their path.But then came the boss villain played by Kevin Durand in "The GadgetScene." I won't dare say another word about it here, let's just saythat 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 agreat job. He is a very underrated actor who many people tend tooverlook. If the film "Legion" hadn't sucked so bad, fans may haveremembered his teary-eyes performance or as Little John in RussellCrowe's "Robin Hood" Until Kevin Durand is offered the kind of film projects that are goingto show fans just how good of an actor that he really is, we'll have tosettle for his occasional bad guy roles. At least he plays bad guyswith substance, and that's all there is too it...

(2012-05-25 00:16)

awesome movie

this is a great movie. the story and actors are great. the special effects are awesome in this movie. if you have not seen this movie then i recommend you do.

(2012-05-24 00:26)

Fun in an in-original way

This is not a bod film. Far from it. The plot is quite interesting, the acting is not too bad and the effects are quite good in a subdued way.The usuall teen love story is present, with a few twists. And of course, all the elements needed to make movie number two and three ...However, I had to give the movie only four stars because of its lack of its originality. There's nothing in the movie we haven't seen before, from the youth who slowly comes to realize his legacy and his supernatural powers, from the old mentor who dies to save his pupil, to the implecable enemies who will do anything to kill the youth.

(2012-05-23 19:52)

What a waste of time. Could not even finish watching it.

The story itself is good, but the acting and directing are all mediocre. One example is that there is no emotional buildup whatsoever and all of a sudden the dude and the girl are madly in love and cannot live without each other. What?This whole film is plain awkward. What a waste of time.

Boozehill (2012-05-23 09:47)

Usual story without surprises

I watched this movie knowing already that this has to be one of thosemovies that will recycle old storyline. Guy has extraordinary gifts, Heis not normal. Extraordinary guy will fall in love to a girl. She isjust a girl that everyone would like to date. Of course she has ahistory and that is of course that she used to be cheerleader and sheused to date the quarterback whose dad is of course the town sheriff.Quarterback and his mates are the high school's tough and cool guys.And then there is a nerdy kid who is not popular. Cool guys are givingtough time to that one nerdy kid. This is the basic setting for quite amany movies nowadays with minor variations.Often when I see this kind of movies I really like the part when themain character will learn how to use his powers. In this movie it goeslike that one dude says that you have the power and then the maincharacter will immediately learn that "I have the power". Not much towait for.What really caught my mind already in the first fifteen minutes that Ihaven't seen anyone who is not white. Look at full character list. OnlyAfrican American that was in that movie was janitor. What's up withthat? Because I'm not a teenager this movie wasn't for me. This goes in thesame category as the Twilight. Once watched You don't want to see itagain. But I could watch the sequel and I already know what is going tohappen in that. Like the first one I will watch it when I needsomething just before going to sleep.So if You need something that will pass the time, this movie can do it.

(2012-05-22 17:48)

A Downward Slide

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. John meets a photographer girl Sarah (Dianna Agron) who has been dating pushy Mark (Jake Abel). Gradually John's alien powers emerge (his hands can be flashlights and he as extraordinary powers of physical strength), he puts his now competitor for in Sarah's affections Mark in place in fights, reveals his identity to Sam who bonds because of his father's being number three, and the trio - John, Sarah and Sam - are off and running. So far so good for a teenage love n' stuff movie.The problems (not only for the trio, but also for the audience) begin as the stalking aliens appear - hilariously ugly creatures with silly guns and manners of communicating - as well as a strange fighting girl (we discover later is the one designated number Six - Teresa Palmer). John, despite Henri's protective insistence that they move on, decides to stay because he has found love with Sarah. From this point the film just becomes silly as flying squirrels become immense, multifanged prehistoric monsters and the plot deteriorates into a mélange of gore, flying body parts, transmogrification of a pet dog into a beastie, etc etc etc.The film is squeezed out a novel 'Pittacus Lore' by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, molded into its present screenplay form by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Marti Noxon, and stirred by director D.J. Caruso. Before it becomes hilariously silly there are some pretty decent performances by Olyphant, Pettyfer and McAuliffe that make the film worth watching. It is a film that will please some (according to box office receipts it was quite successful) and lose others. Grady Harp, June 11

(2012-05-22 10:49)

Excellent Video

This review is from: I Am Number Four (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) I had seen the movie before and purchasing the blu-ray to watch on my hd television made it even better. The movie is action packed which I enjoy and leaves plenty of room for a part II. It would have been cool if the main character was a little stronger but he stepped up when he truly needed to.

whatifu (2012-05-22 04:25)

This movie was cliché and a waste of time!

Okay so I'm spoiling the movie so if you never watched it, don't readthis.Before I comment on the movie, I had to say that this movie wasSMALLVILLE inside a boring as hell teenage movie, with clichécharacters and a cliché script.I don't know what the hell did I miss in the movie, it's like certainscenes were missing, the characters chemistry was fast forwardthroughout the whole thing and why in the hell monkey balls did hispowers suddenly want to start WORKING right at that certain time in themovie? The one scene where he ignored his weak babysitter Henrycommands and ran off into the wood to test his new powers. The partwhere he jumped off a waterfall wasn't even called for, I mean for hisfirst try, he didn't fall or made an epic fail. Before that, he threw arock into the sky and I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but therock looked like it hit a magical force field around the earth.Onto the characters. The high school and students couldn't have beenmore fake and cliché. The head leader of the football pack picks on thenerd, the super hero sticks up for him, the leader old girlfriend takesa liking to the super hero and the leader gets angry about it. What thehell is this? 90210!? Dolson Creek?! Spiderman!? I mean the blondechick didn't even know the guy, but in like 4 days they find outthey're in love???? John (NumberFour) tells Henry that he can't liveher behind because he know she's the one or some crap like that. To behonest, if giant ass killers were looking for me, I would leave her ina heart beat. The nerd was unnecessary in the movie, he had no pointsince he really didn't say or do much. Another thing, why is Henry sosoft and weak? He was suppose to be a warrior of his planet but he getskidnapped but overweight alien watching creeps? I was glad he died (Iknow that's awful to say) but he really served no point in this movie.Now the mysterious bad ass chick (NumberSix) blowing up the house scenewas just not needed to be used and not called for. She's throwingfurniture, books, fire all around the house Henry and John used to livein for what reason?? Then she blows it up like it's nothing and walksaway like she's a boss in the cliché slow motion explosion scene whichwas done in every movie possible. They topped this cake with theAdele's number one song Rolling in the Deep. What really bothered me was the scene when John and his futuregirlfriend are in the school when the GIANT KILLERS comes for them. Shedrags him into the dark room to look at photos while there are killerslike for John outside the school. What!?!???! Like really??? I don'teven...Onto the ending, John, Number Six, the nerd, and Sarah are saying theirgoodbyes. Of course the nerd leaves school, his friends and familybehind to go with the hero. I'm sorry but if John wasn't going to dateor be with Sarah in the end, why keep her throughout the whole movie???This whole thing with her could have been avoided. I have nothing tosay about the leader jock, he's whatever... And then we end the moviewith a lame speech about home and safety from John, while the sunsets....This movie is just ugh.

(2012-05-21 16:20)

Entertaining and Nicely Put Together

I wasn't expecting the greatest film of all time when I watched this but it turned out to be very entertaining for a sci-fi blockbuster. I like how the story unfolded and the acting was not poor. If anything this had much more substance than Twilight in terms of character development and plot so the influx of negative movie reviews are surprising to me.

FloridaCritic (2012-05-20 22:36)

I Am Satisfied- Review by FloridaCritic

I Am Number Four is a Sci-Fi, Action film which centers around oneout-of-this world boy. Literally. It turns out this boy is from a faroff planet called Lorien. Long ago, the bad guys of this film known asMogadorians invaded the planet. Nine children with special powersmanaged to escape with their protectors to Earth. Now the Mogadoriansare hunting down and killing these grown-up children in order.The film opens, and we see Number Three being killed by theMogadorians, which signals a new adventure for Number Four. I'll start with the acting. Alex Pettyfer plays Number Four, who isknown as "John Smith". Overall, the acting was good. We watch as Johntries to live a normal teenage life, but can't because it couldcompromise his safety. John tries to blend in at his new school but hisspecial powers and quick temper prevent him from doing that. I didstart to feel bad for him. Timothy Olyphant delivers one of the bestperformances. He plays Henri, a warrior from Lorien who's purpose is toprotect John. While he is extremely strict and protective over John, hewants the best for him. John and Henri also have a few scenes of funnybanter, which I loved. Dianna Agron plays Sarah, John's love interest.She is into photography, and "sees better" through it. Her acting wasdecent enough, and I enjoyed the misunderstood, spunky girl she played.Teresa Palmer plays the badass Number 6. I was very disappointed thatwe only caught glimpses of her until the final act of the film. Hersmartass comments keep your interest and humor, while at the same timeshe genuinely cares about helping John out and brutally killingMogadorians. There's also Sam, played by Callan McAuliffe who seems tohave much potential, but unfortunately only got the bullied geek whobecomes the hero's sidekick. He brings the character to life but we'veseen this kind of teenager a million times over. Then there's yourtypical jealous jerk who is out to get John or something because ofSarah... I didn't really care. He also plays a bad guy in PercyJackson. Last but not least is Kevin Durand who plays the Mogadoriancommander. I loved his character and the goofiness of it all, while atthe same time he was very menacing. Good and interesting performance.Whew. Now the script. It was decently written, but oh so cliché. Newguy, unknown background, tries to keep to himself but falls in lovewith a girl and risks everything for her. Oh yeah, and picks up a bestfriend and enemy along the way. If you think about it, the story bearssome resemblance to Twilight. At some times, the love story betweenJohn and Sarah felt too rushed and forced. Also, notice how the filmbegins with John and Henri on the constant move to stay alive thenSarah shows up and BAM! It becomes a love story? Thank goodness for theawesome fight scene at the end, not to say I didn't love the love butit lacked in battle throughout. I've also heard complaints that nothingmuch is explained about John, his origin, or anything else in themovie. But isn't that the point? If they told us everything, it wouldtake away from the mystery. I had a very easy time following the story. It wasn't difficult.The special effects were pretty stunning and great to watch. Kudos tothe team.To sum it up, I would have enjoyed more of an action film with a littleless emphasis on the love story. The young cast did a pretty decentjob, and although I wish some had been given more to work with, theyare all very talented with lots of potential. They had a way of makingyou care about the outcome of their characters. The plot and scriptwere still good and never really got slow, but some parts were moreinteresting than others. Effects rocked. The movie ended with the doorwide open for a sequel. I would have no complaints against one, butlet's just hope the other Numbers don't fall in love!And: don't listen to all these people who think they know films justbecause they describe them with big words. I Am Number Four had lots ofgreat parts and is a very deserving movie. You can't expect perfectwith a young cast but they did great. It is definitely worth spending afew bucks to see it.-Maddie, FloridaCritic

shannon314 (2012-05-20 07:48)

The special effects were great, but lots of parts of the books were missing, as is what usually happens when a book is made into a film

I read the book a couple of weeks ago and i went to see the film with afriend who hadn't. i thought the special effects in the film weregreat, especially when John gets his first legacy, but as is usual withbooks made into films, some of the most important parts were missing orchanged. in the film he never opens the Loric chest, but he does soseveral times in the book, also, Henri isn't supposed to die until thefight sequence in the school at the end (and is supposed to have abroad Lorien accent that sounds like French), and Sam doesn't leavewith john and number 6. but i was expecting this because this is alwaysthe case when a book is made into a film, like the twilight series,also i don't think the film explains enough about john's home planetLorien like Pittacus Lore does in the book, focusing more on theMogadorian aliens coming for john. i would have liked more info aboutLorien, because it helps you get an idea of what john is thinking. butAlex Pettyfer makes a great John Smith!

(2012-05-20 08:31)

Not bad

The movie was entertaining and the special effects were pretty cool. It didn't have an amazing storyline or plot, but I was rooting for the main characters at the end.

(2012-05-19 15:04)

Don't miss this!!!

Great movie! Fast paced, beautiful actors. ..if. not everyones type of movie it was wonderful entertainment. I give it 5 stars...I wish I had seen It in the theater but because I listened to some of the negative reviews I missed out on the full impact. This is a must see.

Avinash Dharan (2012-05-19 08:03)

Reminds me of Twilight and Super man and other movies, but tries to make up with fast pace and action sequences.

This movie is about a teen who is always on the run, suddenlydiscovering his inner potentials. He and his guardian are always on therun because some bag guys are hunting all the them, "The gifted nine".Already three down, and he is number four.In the initial part of the movie, he discovers his super powers. Thescenes resembled like any other super hero movie, like Super man,Spider man or Fantastic four. No big difference. The Experiments withhis newly gained powers in the wild and typical initial hiccups incontrolling the power, these are no different from the age old superhero movies, still , it was interesting. And the movie as overall, reminds me of Twilight, though not as boringlike as Twilight. The Small town, the rainy climate, the wilderness ,the good old trucks and the nosy sheriff and the human girlfriend - nodifferent from Twilight. And the big lizard creature, I remember seeingsimilar ones in Underworld and the big bull dog, reminded me of Harrypotter.Acting does not have much scope in the movie and the actors havedelivered what was required. Alex Pettyfer, with his ruffled hair andtoned body, suits the role perfectly. Timothy Olyphant has to benotified for his performance as the guardian "Henri". I expected morefrom the "Girlfriend" of the super hero. Dianna Agron could have donemuch better, the same way Kristen Stewart could have done in Twilightseries. The Stunts and special effects are good involving laser gunsand super hero powers. And the music exceeds expectations. It adds alot of strength to the movie. Zac Brown Band feat. AlanJackson shouldbe lauded. There is no big story line as such. Villains chasing till the end, andhero escapes. No big mind-boggling twists or no sudden shocks for theviewers. Only thing that made me curious was about the dog and the girltracking him. D.J. Caruso, after giving a movie like Disturbia, shouldhave done better. And as per my hunch,they turned out to be goodpeople. After all, hero would need some good guys on his side, right?Lol... This movie is made with the sequels in mind. So, literallynothing significant happens in the whole movie except for Henri'sdeath. At least we will expect the story to unfold interestingly in theupcoming sequels. After being impressed with the cool title "I amnumber four" and after watching an ultra-cool trailer, I was expectinga lot and it was disappointing. Watch the movie without anyexpectations and this movie is may be a once-watch worth.

MrGKB (2012-05-18 20:53)

Despite my rating, I somehow enjoyed this one...

...and perhaps it was just a reflection of my expectations, which werefairly low thanks to the critical disdain the film earned whenreleased, its (relatively) poor performance at the box office, and itslukewarm rating here on the IMDb. Fortunately, all I invested in it wasa few hours of time, and despite its myriad faults, I had a good enoughtime to not feel cheated.As even the dullest of wags on this site have noted, the story isformulaic and the characters verge toward stereotypical, but the truthof the matter is that the piece is well crafted (Syd Field wouldapprove), and it looks great, no small thanks to a host of specialseffects companies and the usual fine makeup work of KNB EFX, finecamera-wrangling by Guillermo "Pan's Labyrinth" Navarro, decent actingfrom a host of up-and-comers (ignore the naysayers on this site, whoundoubtedly couldn't act their way out of a paper bag), a serviceablescore from Trevor "Yes" Rabin, and workmanlike, though unspectacular,direction from D.J. "Disturbia" Caruso.If anything, the greatest fault of "I Am Number Four" is most likelythe Disney-fication of the source material (which, admittedly, I havenot read). All the actors are highly photogenic, everything takes placein a storybook town, the action (despite its violent nature) is prettysanitized, even for a PG-13 affair, and the dialogue pretty much is,too. There really are no surprises, not counting the abrupt appearanceof a character obviously intended to be a full lead in the inevitablesequel, and even that's telegraphed. Yet--somehow--it held my interest,and left me actually looking forward to that inevitable sequel. Gofigure.Maybe I was just in a forgiving mood, but you could do much, much worsefor cheap entertainment.

(2012-05-18 23:46)

I am Number Four

I knew this movie would be bad but I decided to see it anyway because of Timothy Olyphant.The movie was slow and I didn't like most of the characters.I only liked the last 20 minutes of the movie.The aliens look like something from Star Trek:The Next Generation.The special effects were bad.The best part of this movie was the dog.This movie will probably appeal to teenagers and college kids but adults(I'm 35)will probably not like this movie.

(2012-05-18 08:36)

Be a younger viewer to appreciate...

This review is from: I Am Number Four [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Comment: How do I rate this movie... the best way I can describe this movie is to compare it to music. I am from the generation of Led Zeppelin, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes and Black Sabbath. When I compare "my" music to the newest music I say the new music is fluff, light on talent... full of pretty faces but no sole. (no hate mail please) Some of the newest films are the same way. Lots of pretty faces and bodies. That is how I see this movie. When I watched it, I gave it a solid 3 Amazon Stars... that is , for the first two thirds of the film. The last third came to life with some good action. This bumped my rating to four stars. It is obvious that this is the first of a "few" films to follow. I can see now that the first two thirds of the movie was to set up the characters and story line. I am convinced that the films that follow will be along the lines of X-Men. To get the best from this movie you must be a younger viewer.

dcarrdsp (2012-05-17 03:02)

Has the Success Appeal of a Smallville-like TV Series

Based on all the split IMDb reviews, I was expecting this movie todisappoint on many levels similar to "Jumper" or, worse, Disney's "Raceto Witch Mountain". To my surprise, I found this movie much moreentertaining than expected and left with a rare desire to see thisscience fiction blockbuster movie become a long running TV series.Where many struggle with this movie is with the leap of faith requiredto get past the lack of details providing better explanation of themain characters, the importance of various items, reasons for certainevents, and more history on various story lines. However, thesuspension of disbelief inherently required of science fiction moviesmakes the plot holes for this movie more tolerable and even part of theexperience.The appeal of this movie is similar to that of a high budget fast pacedversion of Smallville Season 1 condensed into a nearly 2 hour movie.Perhaps this is due to the screenplay being written by the creators ofSmallville. Regardless, if an entire season was allowed to develop thisstory, I imagine the existing plot holes would be filled in withacceptable explanations. As revealed in the plot summary, this movie follows what appears to bea normal teenage boy, "John Smith", who, for reasons later revealed, isin hiding from a deadly group hunting down the few people in the worldlike him.Although living with a false identity and hiding from a deadly threat,John shares the same coming-of-age challenges as any other teenager indiscovering one's identity, first love, and navigating the socialdramas of high school. John's story is further complicated as hedevelops unexpected new found powers of super human strength, as wellas, attempting to control bright lights of energy that mysteriouslyshine out from his hands at random and during the most inconvenienttimes.Throughout the story, various subplots begin to develop with characterseasy for the audience to care about. Obvious subplots include John'slove interest, an unlikely new friend who wants to believe his father"who never returned home" was abducted by aliens, and the inevitablejourney to search for others like John. I won't mention some of themore interesting subplots to avoid revealing too much about the movie. By the end of this special effects, action packed movie, we are leftwanting more to explore the various subplots and character developmentsimilar to the feeling one may have after completing Smallville SeasonOne. I give this movie 7 out of 10 because it's that much better thanthe 5.8 rating found with "Jumper" and "Race to Witch Mountain".

seekerwithabroom (2012-05-16 16:54)

My I Am Number 4 Review

I didn't expect much out of this movie to begin with. I felt the it wasjust being hyped up and that it would be one of those "the trailerlooks better than the movie" kind of things. I was wrong, however. Thismovie was great! There's great character development, which I believeis missing from most movies today. Hollywood tries to crank out thesemoney makers without any thought as to a plot or characters or thethings that matter. The special effects are great but not too overdone.Also it wasn't sexed up like al movies seem to be today.Overall this was an all around good movie. I enjoyed it immensely, andI think that if you go into it not expecting it to be an amazing overthe edge revolutionary movie, but rather a very well done, familyfriendly, cool super hero movie you will enjoy it also :]