It took me two months to finally decide to watch “I Am Number Four”, and I can honestly say that it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. It’s true that the story feels awfully familiar: there’s the high school kid who discovers he has powers, decides to use that to initially fend off the bullies, get the girl, and ultimately stop the bad guys and save the day. Look, we’ve seen it all before. But people have words they actually say in this movie. And after “Battle: Los Angeles”, I guess that is a great relief. Yet “I Am Number Four” is bound to be compared to those other teen flicks out there. Afterall, what we have here is an attempt to merge the “Twilight” formula with the Michael Bay formula. Teenage girls might buy into it, others will probably stay away for it, but who am I to judge? I’m not a fan of “Twilight”, or Michael Bay for that matters, yet I was more than willing to accept the premise of this movie, and what I got in return was a pleasant enough ride. Pleasant meaning OK entertainment. I’m not going to pretend to have witnessed a masterpiece, because let’s face it, this is far from being a great movie. But as far as escapism goes, I guess it’s not bad.

The film’s biggest downfall however is that some plot elements are too confusing. Where is Mogador? Why did nine citizens escape from it? How did they do so? How did they manage to survive on earth? Why are they being chased by the Mogadorians? What’s the story behind their superpowers? Does number four really look like this, or has he morphed into teenager form once on earth? If you can somehow see it without paying too much attention to those many unexplained details, then it isn’t the absolute worst way to waste two hours of your life.

Rating: 2/4