First Hit: The beginning was mediocre but it picked up quickly and became a very entertaining film.
In the first 10 minutes I thought this was going to be a waste of my time. I’m not sure about the initial sequences but they weren’t a good setup for the rest of the film.
However, the rest of this story worked out and only because the actors were good and they wanted the characters to be as real as possible. John (played by Alex Pettyfer), who is Number Four, is one of 9 aliens sent to earth by his planet to save their planet’s species.
His home planet was invaded by Mogodorians who destroyed his planet’s inhabitants. They are out to find and destroy the 9 who were sent to earth. Each of the 9 has a guardian who assists them from being found by the Mogodorians. Numbers One, Two, and Three are dead and now they are after Number Four.
He is discovered to be an alien by a couple of kids his own age as the Mogodorians are closing in to kill him. At the same time Number 6 (played by Teresa Palmer) comes on to the scene to assist in killing the Mogodorians who have found Number Four.
The ending leaves it possible for there to be multiple follow-up films.
Pettyfer made this film work for me because he came across as thoughtful and made his character as honest as he could. Palmer was fun. Dianna Agron played Sarah an earthling John falls in love with. She was very good and held her own in keeping this film as solid as possible. Callan McAuliffe was wonderful as the odd earthling boy who figured out something was odd about John. Timothy Olyphant was good as John’s protector. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote a really good screen play except for the initial 10 – 15 minutes. D.J. Caruso directed this sci-fi fantasy in a clear story like way.
Overall: I was surprised by how this film grew on me.