'I Am Number Four' rejuvenates sci fi genre

Let's be clear about something: I am no Fox Mulder. I do not believe; I do not WANT to believe. So when I walked into the theater to see "I Am Number Four" and discovered that the basic premise involved aliens from another planet, I was a little concerned. I have not seen a well-executed sci-fi flick involving aliens in a long time – if ever. So, I thought, this movie probably won't be any different. And, boy, was I wrong – big time.

Here's the story: Number Four (played by Alex Pettyfer) and his protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) are refugees from the destroyed planet Lorien. Number Four is one of nine gifted aliens who are on Earth hiding from a race of planet decimators called Mogadorians.

The movie starts out in Kenya where we see Number Three and his protector unceremoniously hunted down and killed by the "Mogs" and a large, flying beast that they seem fond of using to kill Number Three and the other visitors from Lorien. After the opening credits, we are then transported to Florida, where Number Four (going by Daniel at this point) is doing cool tricks on a jet ski and being an overall badass. However, all that changes when a third glowing scar begins to appear on his leg signifying that Number Three is dead. Through a conveniently timed voiceover, we find out that the gargantuan "Mogs" are the ones responsible for the destruction of Lorien

After the incident with the glowing leg scar, Daniel has to leave Florida with Henri and relocate to Paradise, Ohio, where he adopts the identity of John Smith. Here, he meets Mark (Jake Abel), Sarah (Dianna Agron) and Sam (Callan McAuliffe). Mark is your run-of-the-mill "big man on campus"/bully who torments alien conspiracy nut Sam, as well as anyone – namely John – who goes near his slightly voyeuristic ex-girlfriend Sarah.

While all of this is going on, we intermittently catch scenes of a mysterious woman (played by aussie Teresa Palmer) who is on John and Henri's trail and who blows up their home in Florida.

The characters of the movie – as well as the base story archetype – are all fairly unoriginal and generic, but it's the actors and the fantastical action that makes "I Am Number Four" such a wonderful movie. Some will complain, saying there is no deeper meaning to movie, but to me that doesn't take anything away from the film. There may be no "moral of the story," but "I Am Number Four" succeeds in providing moviegoers with the basic entertainment value that you don't get from other films.

Pettyfer plays a believable troubled-and-gifted teen, which complements Olyphant's portrayal as the over-protective "father figure" character. Agron plays the perfect "girl next door" who is into photography and wants nothing more than to get out of Paradise. This movie also managed to highlight relatively unknown actors Abel and McAuliffe. I have seen Abel in a few productions before as the teenage nemesis, and that is where his acting sort of shines. McAuliffe, however, I have never seen before, and I have to say that I was impressed. I have never seen such a wide array of emotion come from an actor as young as this 16-year-old playing Sam.

Now, while I did enjoy Palmer's performance as the mysterious and hot Number Six, the only thing I didn't enjoy was her spotty Australian accent. Despite being a native Australian, Palmer's accent seems to be constantly going back and forth between her natural accent and a natural-sounding American accent.

The only other area that this film fell short for me was the ending. I don't know whether it was because of the PG-13 rating or the fact that it was based on a teen drama novel of the same name, but everything is wrapped up in a neat bow, including Abel's bully character becoming friends with John.

However, even with this neat, uncontroversial ending, "I Am Number Four" was one of the best sci-fi action adventures that I have seen in quite some time.