Weekend Box Office (02/21/11): Unknown leads jam-packed President's Day holiday

It was a crowded weekend at the box office for the second weekend in a row, as three major openers squared off against a surprisingly resilient animated feature from the week before. The top flick of the weekend was the Liam Neeson thriller Unknown (review). The film opened with $21.7 million over three-days and $25.6 million over four days, which is about on par with the $24 million debut of Taken (review) two-years ago over Super Bowl weekend. From a marketing point of view, Taken did have some advantages over this new thriller. The concept of Unknown ("I got into a car wreck and when I woke up someone had replaced me and no one knows who I am") isn't quite as relatible or compelling as Taken ("bad guys kidnapped my kid overseas, and I have to get her back"). While Warner Bros tried to sell Unknown as Taken 2, complete with the ridiculous 'take back your life' tagline and a trailer that climaxed with what little ass-kicking the film has to offer, anyone with a brain could tell that this was more of a goofy Hitchcockian thriller from the guy who directed the cheeky Orphan (review) than a hard action picture (there is a climactic moment of violence that is laugh-out-loud hilarious). Still, the film cost just $30 million, and this again proves Liam Neeson's worth as an action lead. He, Jason Statham, Denzel Washington, and Angelina Jolie really need to make a movie together.

Review: I Am Number Four (2011)

I Am Number Four
2011
110 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I Am Number Four is a film that seems to want to be better than it is, but feels hamstrung by the hopelessly generic narrative at its core. Based on a novel by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, the film basically tells a variation on the Rosewell/Smallville/Twilight formula, with all of the reverence that seemingly goes hand-in-hand with such soulful teen outcast stories. But director D.J. Caruso refrains from playing around with the formula for most of the picture, either too lazy or too afraid to put a unique spin on the contrivance at play. After all, Catherine Hardwicke inserted a knowing snark and self-mocking humor into the first Twilight picture, and was fired from the franchise for her troubles. Up until the last act, I Am Number Four is all-too content to merely 'go with the flow'.

When we all were stoked for... The Time Machine?

Another weekend, another three days with nothing worth seeing at the multiplex. Who amongst us is truly psyched to see The Roommate or Sanctum? And who will be lining up at midnight for the first chance to see such winners as Justin Beiber: Never Say Never Again, Gnomeo and Juliet, or The Eagle? Sure, the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston rom-com Just Go With It will make the usual $40 million opening weekend required by law for broad Sandler farces, but is anyone genuinely anticipating it? Sure, the first two months of the year are occasionally a bit devoid of genuinely exciting releases, but the sheer drought of major studio pictures brings to mind the great dust bowl of 2002.

I Am Number Four gets painfully assembly-line trailer.

While the plot seems to resemble the old WB show Roswell, the sell is hardcore Twilight. I don't need to point out the obvious similarities, but there are moments on inexplicable humor to be found. Dianna Agron's scrapbook looks like a lost volume of Se7en's John Doe while Theresa Palmer (as 'number 6' of nine alien survivors) ends up looking exactly like Agron. I honestly couldn't tell them apart in several key moments in the end montage. Aside from how bland and conventional this picture looks, it's just another piece of evidence that, for the last fifteen years frankly, actresses have much more opportunities on television than in mainstream features. On television's Glee, Dianna Agron gets to play a three-dimensional character with a subtly changing personality. In I Am Number Four, she's the token love interest who exists only to look pretty, swoon, and be captured by the villains. Oh well, for what it's worth, I rather liked Disturbia and kinda enjoy Eagle Eye, so hopefully DJ Caruso can find a better use of his talents if this continues his hit streak. I Am Number Four comes out in regular theaters and IMAX screens on February 11th, 2011.

Scott Mendelson