(M) **

Director: DJ Caruso.

Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron, Kevin Durand, Callan McAuliffe, Teresa Palmer.

THE pre-buzz movie has this pinned as "Twilight with aliens" and at first glance it's not far off the mark.

Let's see - mysterious guy turns up in high school, falls in love, but he's got special powers and plus there's this secret war going on. Yep, sounds familiar.

The thing is, this isn't Twilight. In fact, it's a reasonably enjoyable if slight sci-fi that thankfully keeps the mushy stuff and moping to a minimum, while generating enough appeal for teenage boys and girls.

John Smith aka Number Four (Pettyfer) is the alien in question, who moves from place to place with his protector (Olyphant) to keep ahead of the evil Mogadarians (read: other aliens) that are trying to kill John.

Against the wishes of his protector, John falls in love with pretty outcast Sara (Agron), which complicates matters when the Mogadarians come to town.

First the problems. The plot is thin at best, yet feels squashed into a really small time frame - the whole thing seems to take place over about two days, during which time John and Sara fall truly, madly and deeply in love. Also, parts of it don't make sense, such as an alien protector being over-powered by two fat nerds, or some thing about John and his fellow aliens having to be killed in sequence (hence the title), or minor character Sam's missing dad. Plus there's a whole pile of stuff that seems to be have been set aside for sequels.

It's not all bad news. The final battle is pretty fun, and features some cool special effects (and a neat Buffy reference), plus things move at a pretty good pace throughout. The villians, led by a thickly prostheticked Kevin Durand, are both scary and entertaining.

Pettyfer is so-so in the main role, while Agron does pretty well, as does Aussie McAuliffe as Sam. Fellow Australian Palmer relishes her role as the arse-kicking Number Six, although her character development seems to have been saved for a sequel.

When it's not getting bogged down in cliches, I Am Number Four is decent fun, even if it does feel very familiar and ultimately forgettable.