After the success of TWILIGHT, there was clearly a market for brooding teenage sci-fi/fantasy films. For a start, the audiences for these films aren't that concerned about plot or big ideas, they are all about how good looking the lead actors are.

As with TWILIGHT, the lead male in I AM NUMBER FOUR is an English actor with an established female fan base; this time Alex Pettyfer who made a name for himself in ALEX RIDER: STORMBREAKER.

In his latest film he plays a visitor from another planet who is masquerading as 17-year-old high- school student John Smith, although he looks older than the actor's actual 21 years. Smith is being hunted down by a group of thuggish aliens bent on killing him and the rest of his kind.

Three have already been summarily despatched and he is next. Smith has started to glow in the dark at inappropriate moments, unlike TWILIGHT's Edward who sparkles in the sunlight. Luckily Smith has his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) to guide and protect him through these teenage transformations.

When the pair, on the run, move into a small town, Smith falls for the pretty loner girl (Dianna Agron from Glee) and, naturally, matters get complicated, especially when Smith's powers start to develop, conveniently in time for him to battle the horde of enemy aliens and save the girl: all very predictable.

Bearing in mind the target audience, this isn't a bad movie but it does feel like an expensive pilot for a TV series along the lines of Roswell High. This is hardly surprising when you look at the writers: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar were not only the creators of Smallville but they also wrote SPIDER-MAN 2 and other movies of that ilk They were aided by Marti Noxon, producer and regular writer on Buffy, Angel and Mad Men.

Even the film's director DJ Caruso cut his teeth in TV on shows such as Dark Angel, Smallville and The Shield before making the superb DISTURBIA. If it had been pitched as a TV series in the first place its faults would have been more easily accepted. We would have allowed for clunky dialogue and improbable scenes, although the character and plot developments would have been stretched over 10 – 20 hours rather than 100 minutes.

The concept worked for Roswell High and would work equally well for this, especially with all the other numbered aliens scattered across the planet. However, this is a Michael Bay movie, not a TV show, so it is filled with plenty of impressive action set scenes and no shortage of big explosions, with the inevitable set up for a sequel.

If you are not a teenager looking for a popcorn-fuelled, doe-eyed distraction during half term, this is not the greatest sci-fi movie ever made, nor the worst, but sits somewhere in the dull mediocrity between predictable studio film and great television. It entertains but is easily forgotten.

If producers were more concerned with telling stories and understanding their target audiences then films like this would developed for television where they would draw a larger devoted fan base, and be given a much larger canvas for developing character and story arcs.

Of course, it could lead to the inevitable mid-season cancellation (if was actually really good) and/or the disappointing feature film follow-up (SERENITY being the exception).

I AM NUMBER FOUR is in cinemas now.