I Am Number Four

A teenager from another planet (Alex Pettyfer) and his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) run from town to town, trying to keep a low profile to evade a squad of alien creatures who have already exterminated the first three victims on their hit list. The script by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Marti Noxon gives away the whole story in the first five minutes, scuttling any chance at suspense or mystery about the central characters; after that it’s just a matter of waiting until the CGI effects kick in. At least the butt-kicking battles provide some relief from Guillermo Navarro’s washed-out, cheap-looking cinematography, and from the trite teen romance between our hero and a local girl in the latest town (Dianna Agron). Was the original novel by “Pittacus Lore” (Jobie Hughes and James Frey) as cheesy as this?