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Teen angst well-played in 'Number Four'

It's not easy being teen.

Especially if you're also an extraterrestrial humanoid who has klieg lights in your palms and possesses Harry Potter-like powers to move objects by sheer will.

D.J. Caruso's fun but derivative teen angst fantasy “I Am Number Four” has the look and feel of a really expensive TV series pilot for the Sy-Fy channel.

So, it's something of a pleasant surprise that Alex Pettyfer brings unnecessary seriousness to his role as John Smith, a tormented alien adolescent on the run from an intergalactic hit squad of tattooed creatures called the Mogadorians.

As John explains during a painfully lengthy voice-over history lecture, he is No. 4 in a group of nine alien survivors of a savage Mogadorian assault. Now, John and his father-figure protector Henri (Timothy Olyphant) are hiding out in a small Ohio town, apparently waiting for John to graduate high school and develop his alien powers before setting off to locate the other Nine.

The bad news: The Mogadorians — commanded by a sadistically gleeful leader (Kevin Durand) — have already knocked off One, Two and Three. And if the villains' obsession for chronologically ordered assassinations continues, that means John will be next.

Meanwhile, John has needs just like all other students at his latest high school. He's tired of hiding and being invisible. He wants to be noticed, especially by the pretty Sarah (Dianna Agron).

She's the ex of the team football star Mark (Jake Abel), another jerk jock who bullies everyone, especially the smart, sensitive, scene-stealing Sam (Callan McAuliffe, loaded with cool charisma).

Mark doesn't like the new serious kid messing with his perceived property, setting up the standard Quiet Man scenario of a bully choosing the wrong guy to pick on.

“I Am Number Four” has two other interesting characters to note. The fetching Teresa Palmer plays a mysterious blonde who knows how to take care of herself in dangerous situations. Who is she? What does she want? The best question: Why isn't there a whole movie about her?

Then we have John's new dog, a wonderfully behaved canine that both John and Henri grow to love. Except that we know that a few scenes earlier, that little doggy used to be a lizard that climbed into John's backpack, presumably to track where he and Henri would wind up.

Director Caruso hails mostly from the world of television (a “Smallville” episode, plus several shows of “The Shield,” among others). He directed a sly and clever homage to Alfred Hitchcock's “Rear Window” titled “Disturbia.”

In “I Am Number Four,” Caruso knows his targeted audience well enough to hit the salient issues of teen alien-ation, rebellion and finding identity, things that young John ably communicates with simmering resentment.

Still, “I Am Number Four” traffics in the usual, brain-dead action-movie clichés: Palmer's mystery blonde walks in slow motion toward the camera against a backdrop of a fiery explosion; a leaping John lands on the ground in the silly, standard superhero pose of one hand down and one knee up; John's dog pops in at the last moment to let us know that at least he's OK after a run-in with the Mogadorians' version of a giant, killer flying squirrel.

With suitable special-effects action sequences and sufficient amounts of sex appeal, this movie could be headed for a sequel, but there might be a risk by turning “Number Four” into a No. 2.

John (Alex Pettyfer) stops cops to impress Sarah (Dianna Agron) in the sci-fi action thriller "I Am Number Four."

<b>“I Am Number Four”</b>

★ ★ ½

<b>Starring:</b> Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron, Callan McAuliffe

<b>Directed by: </b>D.J. Caruso

<b>Other: </b>A Dreamworks release. Rated PG-13 for language and violence. 104 minutes.