I Am Number Four

Director: DJ Caruso
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Timothy Olyphant
Time Out rating:

You can imagine the pitch meeting: 'We’ve got this script, it's basically Twilight with space aliens!' 'Here's a blank cheque, go nuts…'

Forgettable pretty-boy Alex Pettyfer plays John, the high-school tearaway who just happens to be one of the last members of a benevolent alien race which has been all but wiped out by the evil Mogadorians. These scar-faced psychos have hunted down and killed three of John’s fellow survivors, and guess who’s next…

Crammed with daft names, kooky chicks, self-regarding hunks and flashy CG effects, I Am Number Four is pure by-the-numbers teen gratification. DJ Caruso's direction is overkeen and annoying, the bland script sets up painfully obvious character conflicts and follows them to their predictable conclusions, and only an enjoyably bonkers whizz-bang finale packed with monsters, ray guns and slo-mo flying saves the film from total tedium. The door is left wide open for a sequel, but it's hard to imagine there’ll be much call for it.

I Am Number Four opens in Japan on July 8