(#12) / I Am Number Four / (directed) by D.J. Caruso / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

I Am Number Four / (directed) by D.J. Caruso /

(based upon the book) by Pittacus Lore (i.e. Jobie Hughes & James Frey)

ASIN: B004SBQAN8 / Touchstone Pictures & DreamWorks

$17.99 / 109 minutes

Release date: 2011 / Rating: PG-13

Body of Content 

Summary: John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) lives on a beach-front property with his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant).  After an accident exposes his secret, John and Henri leave their lives behind in Florida and move to a small, forgotten part of Ohio – hoping their secret is not detected by their enemies.  But John Smith holds secret abilities and powers – powers that he is just beginning to understand and control.  When he starts falling in love with an artistic, popular, high-school girl by the name of Sarah Hart (Dianna Argon), John Smith might just bring danger to the both of them.  Set within the fantasy genre, I Am Number Four is the film adaption of the book by the same name.  As the first book in the series, the authors (and perhaps filmmakers) will have a chance to tell more of this narrative story. 

Critique: The film I Am Number Four is a good example of a fantasy film – that tries at several turns not to come across as a science fiction genre film.  To elaborate, a fantasy film often accepts the magical elements within it – not trying to explain the methodology behind them. 

[Spoiler Alert] John Smith has several, for lack of a better word, magical powers – such as generic powers like more-than-human strength and speed along with more particular powers like telekinesis and light projection from his hands (as a possible weapon).  The film never tries to explain the powers in the kind of language that science fiction offers – whether it is a heavy analysis of genetic, biological, or technological language.  The film does mention that John Smith is going through a transformation like “alien puberty” – which does a little to advance science fiction elements – but, overall, helps fill the assumptive mode of many fantasy stories.

While the bad guys (i.e. aliens) have advanced weaponry, the movie does not provide much detail into the operations or processes that govern them.

This is not so much a criticism of the film, as much as it is a critique.  The film version fits more within the fantasy genre.  Having not read the book, whereby the authors might have more space to devote such details into the narrative, I do not know the genre relationship between the film and the book.  With more books planned in the series, the genre may even morph – as science fiction and fantasy are two brothers of the same genre tree.  But overall, the film feels like a comic book adaptation – with a main character as a superhero – though even comics go both directions – fantasy (cf. Superman and X-Men) and science fiction (cf. Batman and Iron Man).    

Teaser: Born on another world and living as an exile on Earth, John Smith must face his fears and a group of aliens seeking his destruction.  

Information about the Author: D.J. Caruso is an American filmmaker – responsible for a host of small to moderate budget films.  Those titles include The Salton Sea, Taking Lives, Disturbia, and Eagle Eye.  The 46-year-old filmmaker also directed some episodes of TV programs – including The Shield, Robbery Homicide Division, Smallville, and Dark Angel (IMDB, 2011a).  Besides cinema and television, Caruso has directed a handful of music videos – including “Sometime around Midnight” by The Airborne Toxic Event (Wikipedia, 2011), which represents a popular and heavily stylistic and conceptual creation.

In his personal life, the director hails from Connecticut. Besides having Italian heritage, Caruso attended Pepperdine University.  Further, Caruso is married – and the couple has five children (Wikipedia, 2011).    

Supplemental Material

Genre: Fantasy / Action / Drama

Curriculum Ties: Sociology – xenophobia

Booktalking Ideas: 1) John Smith lives with a secret – trying to hide in plain sight.  But will his enemies find him out? 2) Sara Hart is falling for John Smith – but when she learns his secret – will that change everything?

Reading Level: With the standard PG-13 rating – along with the film portraying several high-school-aged characters – grades 7 and up would have interest in the film – with more interest in grades 10 through 12 given the age of the lead character and love interest.    

Challenge Issues and Defense: The film contains a run-of-the-mill PG-13 rating.  The profanity and drug references are typical for the rating.  The action sequences contain fantasy elements, but also have, what IMDB terms, “horror film” elements that “could be too gruesome for young children” (IMDB, 2011b).  Even without the language and the drug references, the film is still a PG-13 rating, which is probably the reason the filmmakers allowed those elements to stay in the final production.  The film does not contain much artistic merit – critically speaking.  Some challenges may enter the library based upon section placement – and like The Animatrix, librarians may want to move the title from children literature into YA or from YA into adult sections – as a possible resolution.      

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I originally watched the movie to gain evidence/data – whether to read the book series.  I am still on the fence about that dilemma.  But the movie is somewhat entertaining and worth some commentary. 

 Last Thoughts

References:

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011a). D.J. Caruso [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142286/

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011b). I Am Number Four [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1464540/parentalguide#certification

Wikipedia. (2011). D. J. Caruso [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/D._J._Caruso

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Switchfoot / Album – “The Legend of Chin”