I Am Number Four

Directed by DJ Caruso. Starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron, Kevin Durand, Teresa Palmer, Callan McAuliffe, Jake Abel 12A cert, gen release, 114 min

LIFE SURE SUCKS when you’re an alien teen slumming it and hiding out in an inferior galaxy far, far away.

Just ask Number Four, aka John Smith (Alex Pettyfer). All the guy wants is a Facebook page and some beach buddies, but no. His overprotective guardian (Timothy Olyphant) won’t allow him to lead a normal earthling existence. The old man’s all worried and stuff about the marauding Fields of the Nephilim tribute act that, as the action commences, have just dispatched numbers One, Two and Three. Four, probably the last remaining foundling from the ravaged planet Lorien, will just have to keep a low profile.

The timing is bad, too; that hot chick from Glee(Dianna Argon) has just started making eyes at him, and Four's hitherto secret abilities are finally blossoming into proper superpowers.

Can our numerical hero get ahead of the neo-Goths, save the known universe and dodge dozens of gargantuan explosions (please note, this is a Michael Bay production) in time to get home and woo the girl to the strains of The Xx? Oh, the angst!

Tent-pole watchers may well note the fortuitous timing. As certain billion-dollar franchises featuring wizards and vampires prepare to shut up shop, the world needs swooning alien puppy love now more than ever.

It's not the worst idea – thank you, A Million Little Piecesauthor James Frey, who co-wrote the original novel – and it is far from the worst execution.

DJ Caruso, the entertaining if bombastic directing entity behind Eagle Eyeand Disturbia, goes some way to recapturing the unquestioning, hermetic razzmatazz of 1980s teen actioners. It may feel derivative but, at its best, I Am Number Fourcherry- picks from Back to the Futureand the John Hughes back catalogue.

Sadly, the plot does get a little mired in focus-group thinking. There are Team Edward demographics to be pandered to, and these punters demand longer meaningful glances between pretty, pretty people. There are also valuable young male patrons out there: cue more pyrotechnics, even cooler extra-terrestrial chicanery and Kings of Leon.

Never mind: if you have to plunder, think big. Besides, I Am Number Fouris too fun and frothy to take umbrage. It may not be The Goonies, but it's definitely several digits away from the giant number two suggested by the many scathing US notices.