We were a little confused a few months back when it appeared that Dreamworks were releasing a sequel to the Doug Liman/Hayden Christensen sci-fi flop “Jumper.” As it turned out, it was actually the trailer for a film called “I Am Number Four,” an adaptation of the young adult novel by Oprah nemesis James Frey and co-writer Jobie Hughes, about an exiled alien, the titular number four, on the run from the rival extraterrestrial race that wiped out his people.
The film’s release date is drawing closer, and a full trailer has debuted over at Yahoo. While it doesn’t look quite so much like Liman’s film now, they’re clearly try to milk the parallels with “Twilight” for all they’re worth — the grey Pacific Northwest setting; the girl who seems to constantly be putting herself in danger; the dark-clad antagonists who turn up in town to cause havoc; the stilted line readings.
But being an alien, our valiant lead (British actor Alex Pettyfer) has special powers, so there’s a faint superhero movie vibe, and the second half of the trailer promises at least a little more action than “Twilight.” We’re clearly not the target audience for this one, but even so, it looks pretty weak — other than the slumming-it presence of Timothy Olyphant (who replaced Sharlto Copley, who was allegedly insisting on playing the role with pointy ears), there’s all kinds of unintentional hilarity here.
It’s hard to pick our favorite moment, but the scrapbook kept by love interest Dianna Agron that makes her out to be John Doe from “Seven,” the backwards somersault off the waterfall, or the late introduction of a badass fellow alien (Teresa Palmer) who looks IDENTICAL to the other female character, are all contenders. Although nothing’s quite as funny as the continued comparisons between the film and “Rebel Without A Cause” by director D.J. Caruso.
Not everyone’s as amused as we are, however — according to Deadline, Jon Favreau believes that the recently unveiled one-sheet for “I Am Number Four” bears too close a resemblance to that of his film “Cowboys & Aliens” — which is particularly odd, as Dreamworks have a hand in both films,. However, a second one-sheet for Caruso’s film has been unveiled, which will apparently make up the bulk of the campaign.
The film hits theaters on February 18th, 2011, and the good news for those of you who like your derivative sci-fi fare projected onto screens the size of an aircraft hanger, is that it was recently announced that the film would receive an IMAX release, along with the studio’s Hugh Jackman-toplining robot boxing movie “Real Steel,” when that hits in October.
