Science Fiction World

When I reviewed Pittacus Lore’s I Am Number Four earlier this year, I wondered whether David Caruso’s big screen adaptation would more successfully entertain than the novel. The novel is not awful, but its lack of originality must surely limit its appeal to young readers who have not read widely and for whom such unoriginal fiction might feel fresh. The first teaser for the movie was not all that promising however, but the trailer released yesterday actually looks quite good. Check it out below.

I Am Number Four  is the first in a planned series of six novels which chronicle the life of John Smith, one of nine young fugitives from the planet Lorien which was all but destroyed by a brutal race called the Mogadorians. Fleeing to Earth the fugitives live amongst us in hiding until they develop their Legacies, superpowers to the rest of us, and can take the fight to the enemy. It’s not known what Legacies a child will develop, but John Smith already harbours remarkable strength and speed, as well as the beginnings of stranger powers, including telekinesis and resistance to fire.

The Mogadorians track the refugees to Earth and hunt them down one by one, but the children have some limited protection in the form of a charm that ensures they can only be killed in sequence, one through nine. One, Two and Three have been eliminated. John Smith is Number Four.

John and his guardian, Henri, move from town to town, changing their identity, always ready to leave at the first hint of discovery. Much of the story takes place in the Midwest town of Paradise, Ohio, where John is once again the new kid at the local High School. But things change in Paradise. John’s Legacies start to develop, he discovers love for the first time, and the Mogadorians finally catch up.

The novel is a combination of high school drama and superhero coming of age story, almost every aspect of which we've come across before on TV or the big screen. There’s no denying that Pittacus Lore (collaborators James Fey and Jobie Hughes) has a particularly cinematic style which makes the novel ideal for a big screen adaptation however – it's very visual, with scenes often ready framed for a camera, and the plot and pacing is that of the average action-adventure flick. And of course, the story's general absence of originality will barely go noticed on the big screen where that's par for the course for main stream SF and fantasy adventures...

The big screen adaptation of I Am Number Four is directed by D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye) and stars Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer and Kevin Durand and has the enthusiastic backing of Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg who are producing the film for DreamWorks Pictures. A February 18, 2011 release date is scheduled.

If I were to take a wild stab in the dark, I’d say that the movie will be more successful than the novel and that Pittacus Lore will find "himself" fast-tracking screenplays in future rather than writing novels…

You can also watch the new trailer in HD on Yahoo movies.

And while I'm harping on about unoriginality, has anyone else noticed the debt to J.R.R. Tolkien with the naming of the two planets Lorien and Mogador? If Fey and Hughes weren't consciously thinking of Lothlorien and Mordor, I'd eat my hat (if I had one).

Here's the first teaser: