I Am Number Four

 There are a lot of alien movies out there: Signs, Independence Day, and War of the Worlds, to name a few. And plenty of them have been blockbuster successes. I Am Number Four hopes to be the next film boasting visitors from other planets to be a runaway hit.
The movie opens on a boy living somewhere deep in the jungle, who is awoken from his sleep by a loud noise. Within minutes, he is killed by terrifying creatures called Mogadorians, and it turns out he isn't their first victim. They are tracking down all nine of the surviving natives from the planet Lorien. First, they took down Number One. Number Two followed. And now that Number Three is taken care of, they've moved onto...Number Four. After accidentally revealing his alien powers to a group of humans, Number Four and his mentor, Henri, are forced to leave their hiding place, and move to Paradise, Ohio. Not realizing their leaving gave the Mogadorians the clues they needed to track them down, Henri allows Number Four, under the alias John Smith, to attend the Paradise local high school. There he befriends UFO fanatic Sam, and he meets the girl of his dreams. But when John and Henri realize their mysterious enemies are pursuing them, Number Four is forced to confront these frightening creatures who are no longer bent only on his demise: now they want to destroy the entire human race.
I Am Number Four, rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action and for brief language, seems to be a mix of Twilight, and Percy Jackson, with some elements of the Bourne Trilogy mixed in for good measure. And that's not a bad thing. The movie has romance, action, and some elements of mystery sure to keep you on your toes. While it drags a bit towards the middle, the excitement quickly picks back up again. 
For a movie geared at teens, I Am Number Four has a solid cast. Even though many of them are pretty faces, that's not all they are. Alex Pettyfer is likable as Number Four, and Dianna Agron and Callan McAuliffe are excellent as well.
The special effects are simple stunning to look at, and are extremely well done.
As expected, the film is violent, and there is plenty of kicking, shooting, and stabbing (however, aliens disolve into dust when killed, so we aren't forced to look at bloody remains). A few humans are murdered, but it happens off screen. Unfortunately, some profanity marrs the script, mostly when characters are in danger. Words such as s--- and a-- are used most frequently.
With huge franchises such as Twilight and Harry Potter coming to an end, studios are out looking for the next big thing. And I Am Number Four might just be it. It started out as a young adult novel (the author has six more novels planned for the series), it has a talented and likable cast, and it has been hyped up enormously. Personally, I wouldn't mind if this series took off. It's entertaining and, even with its flaws, it's still cleaner than a lot of teen movies out today. The language is a bit of an issue, and I seriously wish it could have been toned down, but on the upside the characters are a loyal, brave, and un-superficial bunch we can root for. And after seeing so many movies with arrogant, stuck-up teens who are terrible role models, that's a huge thing. Who can say which film franchise will capture the world's attention next, but if it happens to be I Am Number Four, I can't say I'll be disappointed.