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The most successful entries in the Young Adult fantasy genre cannily cater to their target audience's growing pains, allowing the adolescent consumers to feel better about their own inner fears and doubts while watching an initially awkward protagonist discover their secret powers hidden within. The potential franchise launcher I Am Number Four, however, chooses to introduce its golden-maned, fiercely six-packed hero while he's doing a totally rad Jet Ski stunt in front of a beachful of bikinied admirers. (This is a Michael Bay production.) Based on the bestselling YA novel pseudonymously cowritten by James Frey (of A Mill
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The most successful entries in the Young Adult fantasy genre cannily cater to their target audience's growing pains, allowing the adolescent consumers to feel better about their own inner fears and doubts while watching an initially awkward protagonist discover their secret powers hidden within. The potential franchise launcher I Am Number Four, however, chooses to introduce its golden-maned, fiercely six-packed hero while he's doing a totally rad Jet Ski stunt in front of a beachful of bikinied admirers. (This is a Michael Bay production.) Based on the bestselling YA novel pseudonymously cowritten by James Frey (of A Million Little Pieces fame), the plot follows a super-powered exile from another world (Alex Pettyfer) attempting to uncover the secrets of his heritage while staying under the radar of the authorities. After arriving in a small Midwest town and hitting it off with a gorgeous, nonconformist classmate (Dianna Agron), he must make a stand against a gaggle of alien bounty hunters bent on wiping out him and his fellow eight exiles in numerical order. Director D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) is a more-than-competent craftsman, but he can't do much with the film's soggy middle section, which veers away from appealing teenage angst and perilously close to whiny entitlement. (The casting of the superbly no-nonsense Timothy Olyphant as Pettyfer's Yoda-ish instructor does help matters considerably.) Things do pick up in the final act, particularly with the introduction of some giant dinosaur/flying squirrel beasties, but it remains to be seen if the majority of viewers will be able to find a vicarious entry point within the frustratingly seamless perfection of the main character. Great hair, zero zits, the attention of the most beautiful girl in school, and way cool telekinetic flashlight hands? Pick a side, folks. --Andrew Wright
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Manufacturer: Touchstone Pictures/ DreamWorks
Release date: 24 May 2011
Number of discs: 3
EAN: 0786936812725 UPC: 786936812725
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