The movie does a good mixing of genres and not just on the science fiction and action side; there is a whole teenaged, high school dynamic going on as if it was pulled from an old John Hughes movie.  In fact we are introduced to the jock, the nerd, the weird, pretty Girl and the new kid in town.  Mixing in the new kid is an alien who is just discovering his new found abilities and you end up with some pretty fun results.

Caruso is no stranger to bring some good, intense action sequences and he brings some pretty good ones here.  Too often in a movie where we get some action the director fails to bring the audience into it.  Anyone can film a car chase, but if all we are getting is seeing one car chase another with some quick editing and a slick musical score, it’s hardly going to “wow” any member of the audience who has seen that a dozen times before.  In this movie the director knows how to deliver an effective action scene that grabs the audience’s attention.

A movie like this often goes at a real fast pace without ever to truly letting moviegoers to get to know the characters.  “I Am Number Four” does take some time to give us character development.  You may feel this slows down the movie, but it is worth it.  It’s what helps to make the above actions sequences better.  If you don’t care about the characters then you are not invested on whether they survive or not.

“I Am Number Four” is a movie that can sneak up on you because the advertisements for it make it look “okay” at best.  By all means go into the movie with that attitude because you’ll come up delightfully surprised.   It is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, action and for some language