Movie review: I Am Number Four

I wasn't expecting much, really, but I had hoped that they'd at least make an effort to try to stay true to the book or stay true to most of what's in the book. The book itself was okay and I actually thought it would make a decent movie because of the action sequences in the book.. In fairness, they did try to stay close to the book - they just focused on the love story instead of the actual story as to why Four is Number Four..

Here's a bit of a rundown of the things I didn't like:

a) Like the movie adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I felt that the characters in the movie are waaaaaay off base with the characters in the book. Did the actors even bother to read the book? I apologise if I'm mistaken and that they did read the book, but watching them felt to me that they didn't really know the characters they were playing.

b) I liked Number Six in the book and I certainly don't remember that every sentence that came out of her was loaded with sexual innuendo.. If I'm wrong and the character in the book really talked like that, please let me know.. I just don't remember her that way..

c) One of the best scenes in the book was when Henri narrated what actually happened to their planet while Four sees a vision of how it occured. How was this not in the movie?? Aside from focusing on the love angle, this really bugged me the most. Their desire for a sequel by withholding this tidbit of information from the movie is such hogwash! The title of the movie is I Am Number Four! If the viewer has not read the book, it would have been great to provide the background information given on the book that explains everything that's happening to the main characters..

d) Also another good scene in the book was Henri's death.. In the book, Henri died during the fight.. In the movie? I don't know, something about a car chase and him getting speared while they were driving away or something like that.. I dunno, I just stopped paying attention way before this scene.. Henri's death in the book teared me up while the one showed in the movie made me roll my eyes..

e) The chest was opened in the book, why wasn't it opened in the movie? More mystery? More excuse to make a sequel? It's stupid..

I know there's more but those are the main ones..

Honestly, after seeing the first 10 minutes of the movie, I turned it off and read a book instead.. The next day, I picked up where I left off and again, after a few minutes, I opted to watch regular TV instead.. I just kept putting it off because it was irritating until I finally finished it..

Okay, I have to admit that the only thing I liked about the movie was Bernie Kosar.. He was the only character in the book that was portrayed almost perfectly, down to the giant CGI form he took in the movie (I say almost because there should have been more interaction between him and Four because one of Four's legacy was animal telepathy).. Six catching up with Four was nice, but as mentioned, this was a different Six from what I remember from the book.. This scene in the picture is cliche, but there was so very few things to like about the movie so I'll give a nod to this as well..

If you're going to see it, choose to buy or borrow the book instead. Reading it is not a waste of your time compared to watching this movie.

Til then!