Rated PG-13 | CP Grade: C+
On his pretty surface, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) is as generic as his name — tall, chiseled, blondish from his long hours on the beach. But he has a secret, revealed almost immediately: He’s an alien from another planet, with superpowers, a wise mentor and a pack of baddies trying to kill him. Like the vampires in Twilight or the young wizards in Harry Potter, John’s supposed to keep a low profile among humans, though this is difficult when his legs and arms begin to glow without warning. The challenge is compounded when a nerdy classmate (Callan McAuliffe) spots him in alien-action, and then again when John falls for a high school classmate (Dianna Agron), whose bully of an ex (Jake Abel) provides yet another antagonist. Based on a young adult science fiction novel by authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes, John’s story is surely familiar (see: Superman), but he’s helped in this movie version by the fact that his mentor is played by Timothy Olyphant. Surrounded by all this teen drama, Olyphant brings welcome wit and sarcasm, not to mention an understanding of violence that the overexcited kids can’t fathom. While they leap and heave and ho along with the so-so special effects, he looks as though he might feel surprise or pain: It’s called acting, and he’s very good at it. Cindy Fuchs

| Rating: | PG-13 |
| Director: | D.J. Caruso |
| Cast: | Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron, Kevin Durand, Callan McAuliffe |
| Release Date: | February 18, 2011 (Nationwide) |
| Running Time: | 104 |
| Distributor: | Dreamworks Studios |
| Producer: | Michael Bay |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure, Suspense/Thriller |
| Advisory: | for intense sequences of violence and action, and for brief language |



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