"I Am Number Four" is good... for a Murrysvillian.

Guess what I saw this weekend?? I'll give you a hint: not one... not two... or even three... that's right! I AM NUMBER FOUR!

Wow, I'm cheesy.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was in for. I didn't read the book, which I usually do before seeing a movie, and I didn't have a full background on what the movie was even about. I know there were aliens, and they (I wasn't even sure who "they" were) killed three of them, and were after the fourth one in this movie. So that was my pre-viewing knowledge. Now I'm sitting here, a day after seeing it in theaters, and I'll give you a rundown on what happened. CAUTION: This run down may contain spoilers. Maybe.

So it started off with the bad aliens (I don't remember their names, but they were tall, had bad teeth & weird gill things by their noses, and bald tatted-up heads) killing off Number 3. This made Number 4 get this weird burning scar on his leg, which eventually led to him and his protector having to move to Paradise, OH. But as their packing the truck, you see this little gecko thing climb into their luggage, and you're sitting there thinking, Oh crap, oh crap, this isn't good! Then they burn all their stuff and drive away.

So then they get to Paradise and move into this crappy house. They have to completely change their identity, so it's at this point we learn Number 4's new name is Jack Smith and his protector is Henri. Anyways, Number 4 goes up to dye his hair and stuff to change his look. This gorgeous creature is what emerges:

That's what I'm talking 'bout. I give the person who assigned the roles of the characters props to this, because that boy is fine. Oh! So next... it switches to this scene outside where we see that mysterious gecko, and he climbs out of the truck and into this bush. We hear all this rummaging around this creature scurries away. It's moving too fast though and we can't see what it is. Then there's a knocking at the door pretty much immediately afterwords, and you're thinking, it's the evil gecko-creature-thing! Don't look!! But of course they do, and no one's there, but Number 4 looks down and sees a beagle sitting in the yard. Guess it turned into a beagle! But he decides he wants to keep the random dog he found in the yard, and of course throughout the movie we see him saying and doing very secretive things in front of him. So you just get that weird feeling in your stomach that something isn't going well with this.

So then he goes to school. Best past of the movie. Why? Because that's my school! Look look look!

That's a hallway at my school! That's so cool! So pretty much for the entire middle portion of the movie, I focused on the people in the background, trying to find the extras that I recognized. Mostly they were people that have already graduated, but I still knew them. It was really cool to see people that I knew in a real blockbuster movie! Plus I spent a lot of my time trying to find my artwork that I did that was used as props in the movie (2 chemistry projects) but I didn't see them unfortunately. =/ Anyways, the middle part of the movie was really slow. Basically he meets this photography-obsessed Sarah girl who he starts to like, only she has this jerk off ex boyfriend who keeps picking on poor Number 4. And they go to a hayride and the jerk's friends jump Number 4, and he totally whoops their butt, but the problem is that he used his special powers to hurt them and this one kid (I forget his name) saw him. Oh, and this one kid is like, obsessed with aliens and stuff, so he's like overly-thrilled that he thinks that he found one.

SO ANYWAYS. Stuff happened after that, yadda yadda yadda. I didn't care that much because I just liked pointing out the people that I knew. But then! The final fight scene was definitely the best part. Number 4 and Sarah run into the school to hide, but the evil aliens find them. They are almost toast when this girl comes out of nowhere and kills those particular evil aliens. We learn that she is Number 6, and she tells Number 4 that they need to get ready to fight because the evil aliens are surrounding the school. That kid who's obsessed with aliens shows up at the school with Number 4's dog, when he sees a huge bird-like creature flys out of this large semi, and the boys like... crap. That's when the dog starts barking, so the boy looks over and then it turns into a big scary creature, too! NEVER SAW THAT ONE COMING!

So inside the school, the alien-obsessed boys meets up with Number 4, Number 6, and Sarah. They're trying escape when they are attacked some more. They fight their way out of it, of course. Then the evil bird thing comes and almost gets Number 4, until something jumps out of nowhere and attacks the bird. It turns around and we see it's his dog! So at this point, we realize that this whole time, the dog was actually a GOOD alien. What a relief! So then they go onto the football field for the final fight scene, which is really intense, and our heroes come out on top. The football field is in ruins, and it makes me really admire how advanced our special effects are these days.

The movie ends with Number 4, Sarah, and Sarah's jerk ex who's no longer a jerk say their goodbyes. Number 6 waits impatiently as Number 4 does so. He also decides to bring along the boy who's obsessed with aliens, because they predict that the evil aliens kidnapped his father (we never met him, he was missing the whole movie). They drive off into the sunset, and leave us wondering if there will be a sequel to this movie.

Now to be honest, I don't know how I feel about this movie. Some parts of it were really good, others completely lost my interest. So that's why I'll give this movie three stars. I feel like if you didn't go to Franklin Regional, the movie might have been easier to actually pay attention to, because you wouldn't be trying to see people you know and stuff. Overall though, the movie was alright. If you live in the Murrysville area, I would recommend seeing it. It is rather interesting.

- Sara