At the Movies with Fatwayne

Usually, everyone wants to be number one. That would not be a very good idea in this storyline since everyone is being killed in numerical order. So being number four at least gives you some time to plan your moves! Number Four (Alex Pettyfer) has taken the “creative” alias of John Smith. He is among nine gifted aliens who were forced to flee their home planet Lorien as toddlers in order to hopefully survive on Earth. The problem is that they are being ruthlessly tracked and marked for extermination by members of an invading species called the Mogadorians who have already destroyed Lorien.

John is now a teenager (yes, they look like us and share all of our teenage angst!). He is lucky to have a warrior protector named Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to look out for his safety and guide him through the process of Legacy which is the development of superhuman powers. It’s their version of going through puberty. John winds up on Facebook or some other such nonsense which forces Henri to move them for their safety. He tells John that they are moving to Paradise. I’m thinking “OK, a little scenery from Hawaii”. WRONG! How about Paradise, Ohio!

Let’s get back to the Mogadorians. They are pitiless and cruel with their only concern being the elimination of the nine gifted children from Lorien. These creatures are huge, dressed all in black with dusters and oversized Frankenstein style shoes. They carry some sort of laser guns that look like futuristic shotguns that fire clear shells filled with some sort of red liquid. They are hairless and tattooed and badly in need of a dentist not to mention the gills that are strategically placed on each side of their nostril. Way cool look, don’t you think? They also have a large trailer with something sinister inside of it. They feed the inhabitants of this trailer dozens of whole turkeys which they procure from the local supermarkets.  What’ s up here? They are now hot on the trail of John Smith since they have already dispatched numbers one through three. For some reason they have to do their killing in strict numerical order.

There are several things to watch for in this movie. There is this salamander (lizard) that hitches a ride with Henri and John. He later morphs into a nice little beagle like dog but there may be more to this then we are led to believe.  There is John’s teenage love interest, Sarah Hart (Dianna Argon) and his nerdy high school friend, Sam (Callan McAuliffe) whose missing father just happens to be into UFO’s and related studies. There are high school bullies and fights as John begins to discover his considerable powers. We also get to meet Number Six (Teresa Palmer) who seems to be a bit more advanced than John. Last but certainly not least let us not forget about whatever is living in the big black trailer the the Morgadorians are towing.

All of these factors come together in the formation of the final battle that will determine who will survive and who will not. There is a lot of action throughout the film along with some sizeable plot holes that could use a load or two of reasoning to fill. The movie sets us up for a sequel depending upon how well it does at the box office. For the most part it was an enjoyable couple of hours.

Rating -  PG13  -

Fatwayne’s Rating  

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