I Am Number Four
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: February 18, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
16
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaFeb 16, 2011
Like a good episode of "Smallville": You may feel a bit silly watching it if you're past high-school age, but you just might have a good time. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 17, 2011
The appealing new kid-on-the-teen-angst block, reverberates with much of the same dark combustible mix of action and romance that's been fueling the "Twilight" vampire mega-franchise for a while now. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreFeb 16, 2011
Brit hunk Alex Pettyfer has grown into a solid and quite interesting lead to build this potential sci-fi movie series around. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsFeb 26, 2011
If you can make it through the bland schmaltz of the first half you'll be rewarded with a spectacular blast of sustained action and the promise of even better to come. This could be the start of something great. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSteve RamosFeb 16, 2011
While Caruso will fail to win over adult reviewers, I Am Number Four will connect with teen moviegoers anxious for a new young adult fantasy fix to hold them until the next "Twilight Saga" hits in November. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesFeb 21, 2011
Four is so cobbled with bits of other sci-fi and comic-book movies, there's little to distinguish it. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 18, 2011
There are entertaining moments along the way, and some likeable characters. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenFeb 17, 2011
Say this for I Am Number Four: It's blessedly free of any original sins. Instead, they're all copied. Here a little "Superman," there a bit of "Spider-Man," now it's "Twilight" with aliens, then it's a spaghetti western with trucks – this thing borrows more heavily than an investment bank in an unregulated market. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliFeb 17, 2011
Best reason to stay home and rent "Disturbia": I Am Number Four is a little better and makes loads more sense than "Eagle Eye." But neither has the sass and pluck of "Disturbia." Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaFeb 17, 2011
With clunky dialogue...I Am Number Four puts the burden on its special effects (passable) and the chemistry between Pettyfer and Agron. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 17, 2011
A well-made, reasonably diverting night at the multiplex that will seem overly familiar to everyone except teenage girls. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallFeb 17, 2011
Producers Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg deploy an arsenal of noisy special effects to demonstrate the invaders' high-tech superiority, which makes Olyphant's inability to breach an Internet firewall look pretty silly. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 17, 2011
I found the mythology of I Am Number Four vague and sloppy. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick SchagerFeb 16, 2011
Nothing but a million little pieces from prior superhero series and the "Twilight" saga. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangFeb 16, 2011
A flashy, lunkheaded sci-fi extravaganza sure to appeal to teenagers who like their interplanetary warfare bloodless, their high-school soaps squeaky-clean and their numbers countable on one hand. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttFeb 16, 2011
The movie is a mixed bag, with many of the elements fun and intriguing, but since this is also a Michael Bay-produced movie, CG monsters and cartoon bad guys gum up a third act. Read full review
45
MovielineMichelle OrangeFeb 17, 2011
It's tailored more to a gamer's eyes and expectations than a moviegoer's. On the whole the scenes play like levels, with one connecting in only the most basic way to the next. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonFeb 17, 2011
Frey didn't really need a ghostwriter for this story, he just needed an archivist with a Xerox machine and a mercenary streak. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFeb 17, 2011
Sluggish and derivative, I Am Number Four is another elaborate puberty metaphor with superpowers substituting for testosterone. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 21, 2011
The recycling goes as deep as the dialogue, which is a mangled and blended refrain of clichés. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsFeb 18, 2011
The cheap, indifferent, teen-alien thriller I Am Number Four delivers none of the spectacle of a competent sci-fi film, none of the emotion of an effective teen romance and none of the giggles of a kitsch fiasco. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertFeb 16, 2011
What we have here is a witless attempt to merge the "Twilight" formula with the Michael Bay formula. Read full review
30
TimeMary PolsFeb 17, 2011
There are gaping holes in logic throughout this sloppy, cheap-looking mess from "Disturbia" director D.J. Caruso. Read full review
25
Washington PostSean O\\\\\\\'ConnellFeb 19, 2011
Unoriginal and woefully half-baked, Number Four plays out as such. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithFeb 18, 2011
For all of its homicidal aliens and toothy beasts, I Am Number Four did contain one element that genuinely unsettled me: the line "produced by Michael Bay." Nooooooo! Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 18, 2011
I Am Number Four, with its gangly title, seems like a dimwitted cousin to those hipper properties - a Superman-come-lately tale of puppy love, extraordinary powers and puberty that's duller than a chalkboard and less powerful than an extraneous Jonas brother. Read full review
20
SalonAndrew O'HehirFeb 17, 2011
It was boring and silly but not atrociously bad. No, that's much too glowing; allow me to back up and rephrase. It is atrociously bad, basically. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesFeb 17, 2011
Check the credits: That move is ripped straight from producer Michael Bay's playbook. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumFeb 19, 2011
Witless, insultingly derivative, muddy-looking, and edited in the hammering epileptic style that marks so many films produced, as this one is, by Michael Bay. Read full review
10
NPRBob MondelloFeb 18, 2011
I Am Number Four's CGI sequences are murky and dark, its performances negligible, its script genuinely inept. There is, I should note, a puppy, which arguably keeps the film this side of completely unbearable, but just barely. Read full review
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