The children of Lorien

This is kind of funny, it took me way to long to come up with a title for this blog, my last good review(I believe that would be for The Warriors Way) was pretty damn easy, it was the opening line of the movie this one hmm not so much.

This movie opens to a scene in the jungle, you pan over a small village, then some trees, then a lit up bungalo out in the middle of the trees. You see two mosquito netted beds, with someone asleep in each one, something jiggles the handle at the front door. A man stands up, grabs an interesting looking curved blade with a weird glowing blue ball near the bottom and cautiously walks up to the door. The handle stops moving, he peers out sees nothing is about to turn around when the door is engulfed(by what you don't see just yet) and the young boy who was asleep in the other bed goes tearing out of the window(his window jump was good, but Scott Pilgrim gets that award) after a series of jumps, tumbles and flips he winds up (by the throat) in the hands of some weird bald dude with weird markings on his head. In a gravelly voice the man tells him how fun it's going to be to kill him, runs him through with a blade of his own, and he turns to dust.


We are whipped to a sandy beach a bunch of teenagers having fun with jet skis on the water. Seems to be your average party day in some warm climate hang out. Night falls, a young brown haired teen is summoned(via text message got to love modern technology) to the peir by a beautiful blond hottie, you see them swimming together out of no where the young boy stars screaming and the water around him lights up, it seems that there is a searing fire burning it's way out of his leg. he crawls onto the beach SCREAMING in pain(young blond girl runs off screaming freak, yeah she was DEFINITE wifey material), the young man crawls away and wakes up covered in sand off to the side somewhere to a hand reaching down to pick him up. His father or so you would think at first. But no it seems that young Daniel is a fugitive from a distant world, and the death of his fellow Lorien means that he has to leave, and quickly. Mainly because people saw his wild display on the beach and also because 3 is now dead and "Daniel" is number 4.

I am number 4 is the beginning of a story about 9 children(6 now that 3 are dead) who were rushed off their homeworld because while it was written that these 9 children would be the saviors of their planet, they never got the chance. The Mogadorians attacked before they came of age and thus got their powers. They are on earth now (because  you know earth is the universes refugee camp, what it's a common theme superman, escape from witch mountain, earth girls are easy, men in black) trying to hide in plain site hoping they can grow old and not have to worry about the Mogadorians, or at least come of age so that they can fight off the Mogadorian hordes. The Mogadorians are like the black holes of the universe they come to a planet and lay waste to everything and then move on. Number 4 is your average teenager: he likes girls, wants to fit in, isn't too happy with authority and just wants to be able to live. His protector, Henri, has one thought and one thought only in mind "keeping number 4 alive"(played by Timothy Olyphant, yes Hitman is 4's protector), so after burning all their effects in front of their former Floridian home(you know it's Florida because the license plate he sets on fire says Florida) the ride off to ohio. Not long after they depart for the road a young woman shows up tosses the place, finds no evidence of where they are headed, turns on the gas, sets and walks out the door as the house explodes, she walks away unscathed as a blue "shimmer" appears behind her to ward off the flames. Days later it seems(I say days because you see the police tape and everything) The mogadorians show up, not hot on his trail but it appears that Henri's concerns were not unfounded.

Number 4 isn't really liking the prospect of just sitting in their solitary house waiting for the bad guys to come, so he forges some paperwork to get into school and meets the school geek(yes complete with obnoxious jock bullies) as well as the pretty girl with a weird quirk, who seems to have an eye for photography even if all of her pictures aren't appreciated. She has a website Strangers in Paradise(the small Ohio town is named Paradise, and like she says the name was just like bam right there), unfortunately John(oh did I forget to mention that Henri came up with this GREAT new identity for Daniel: John Smith, oh yes SOOOO ORIGINAL) finds out all to late that Sarah(the blond photographer beauty) has a stalkerish ex Mark(played by Jake Abel, Luke from Percy Jackson seems to have the douchey jock role down pat), who also just happens to be a cops son, which is going to make Henri's "be invisible" request pretty damn hard.

Okay as I haven't gotten any feed back yet as to how detailed you want my reviews to be I'm gonna break from story mode and go into my thoughts mode. I am number 4 was a pretty decent movie, no the dialogue wasn't that original:young man coming of age beefs with his protector/trainer/parent, meets pretty girl who brings trouble into his life, finds slightly down trodden friend who makes a decent side kick and must stop some problem coming his way. Honestly pretty much like last year this time with Percy Jackson and the sorcerers apprentice. The difference between 4 and Percy is that percy was already a good 5 books deep before his first movie came out while I am number 4 is the first in it's series(hell harry potter was already at 4 books himself before his first movie came out). I hope it's a successful book series being a successful movie in a down economy isn't going to be easy, hell I thought Percy Jackson was great and haven't seen or read anything about a sequel. Now yes other than Number 3 dieing you don't see too much in the ways of powers in about the first 30 minutes, it's just a movie about a teenage boy trying to fit in at his new school in his new town, with a dark past.

When the powers do come out he seems to have "flash light abilities" (what, light shines out of his hand, what would you like me to call it) seems to have the ability to grab things at a decent distance(of different weights because he tosses a police car in the trailer)and toss them around, he can jump a nice distance, can also lift weight physically(thought it may just be his hands anti gravity powers), can move pretty fast and has pretty good reflexes. Henri tells him that these abilities are called "Legacies" abilities passed down from his parents. The blond girl chasing him is number 6 she appears to be able to teleport short distances, has a force field that protects her from fire, and has pretty good aim. The young geek is named Sam, his nickname is "UFO" because his father used to trek him around the globe looking for life from other worlds(how ironic that his buddy is an alien, just freaky right...... oh the sarcasm isn't appreciated :( smoke you okay). Anyway Number 4 also seems to be able to recharge 6 with his Lumens(thats what she called them, so you know me calling them flashlight powers really ain that far off) I don't know if that's just a 4 and 6 thing or if he can go ahead and recharge everybody from Lorien, I guess we will see in future books, and possibly future movies. If you want a nice decently paced swear free(well PG-13 swear level anyway) action movie, with a little bit of emo come on and watch I am number 4 you will be entertained. There is butt kicking, there is a plot(parts of it seem rushed, like I'm sure in the book he gets way more training then a jump off a high ledge and poppin a few light bulbs but hey it's a movie gotta keep it within 2-2:30 hours tops), and the acting wasn't terrible a few parts were a little over the top, but it works for this movie. And the Mogadorians are actually kinda fun as bad guys.

I mean right before he kills a guy the Mogadorian commander is reading a comic book and laughing. I miss those kind of jovial bad guys, if you really think that you can't lose why are you being so sour and pissy? Have fun with it, these children beat me, please I got a knife for them and these big bad red laser/plasma rifles show me what ya got kid. I mean the Mogadorians are almost video game bad guys they are so much fun, "dialogue who needs a lot of dialogue, we're here to kill people". You even get some freaky looking creatures in this movie, thus like I said it's a fun evenings viewing.

The characters are :

Number 4: it seems the children from Lorien don't have real names maybe because you know they were going to be changed so often due to running. For at least this movie(if not the whole series) he is the main character. His is a young boy with a heavy weight on his shoulders and a mysterious silver and blue box that he hasn't opened yet bequeathed to him by his father and it will be given to him by Henri "when he's ready".

Henri: Number 4's protector and father figure. He isn't much on conversation, he has a one track mind and he seems to be pretty good with his blade. He is not worried about 4's happiness right now only his protection, he seems to have decent hacking skills(as he is running a program that removes any picture of number 4 from any website out there to help hide him and hopefully keep the trail ice cold) and a wry sense of humor.

Sam: the school geek. Sam's dad went missing so now he lives with his stepfather(NOO CLUE who his mother is never see her, just see Sam and the step dad a few times), he seems to be a huge UFO conspiracy theorist like his Dad. Wishes Mark would take a long walk off a short pier and drown.

Sarah: the school beauty who has caught number 4's heart and is the budding photographer. When we first meet her she is in the principle's office for snapping a photo of one of her teachers picking his nose and posting it on her website "Strangers in Paradise". She seems to be sweet and innocent but of course all honey draws pests.

Mark: most likely the school SUPER JOCK, it seems he is Sarah's ex and lives the basic jock life terrorizing the geeks, and trying to make the world a living hell from anybody trying to be the new guy in Sarah's life. Did I mention that his dad was the local Sheriff, oh yes number 4 couldn't have picked a better kid to get on the bad side of and raise Henri's blood pressure

Number 6: The stories Femme fatale. When she joins the story in the final battle she comes in kicks butt, kills quite a few of the mogadorians and shows that Blondes definitely have more fun. There really isn't too much time for back story as they are surrounded by mogadorians when she appears but going forward of course this child of lorien will most likely play a big part.

This movie is based on the book by Pittacus Lore  and is the shared pseudonym for the writing pair of James Frey and Jobie Hughes. As stated the book is the first in the series and the next book "The Power of six" is due out later this year. Now if this refers to Number 6 or the six remaining children I'm not sure yet, I haven't read the book since it's not due out til this fall.

Hope you enjoyed my review as always comments, criticisms and questions are welcome