Review - I Am Number 4 and True Grit

This week saw two trips to the local cineplex to enjoy reclining seats and popcorn and check out two current releases. True Grit is the Coen Bros update on the John Wayne classic with Jeff Bridges playing US Marshall Rooster Cogburn. The unsentimental take on the tale of the mismatched buddy pursuit - grizzled drunken veteran and steely eyed 14 year old girl bent on revenge - ticks all the right boxes: epic scenery; widescreen shots; shootouts; snakebite etc. But I felt that the redemptive tale told at the heart of this story was missing - Bridges may have been a whisky priest, but here he was always a priest. I never felt that he was the fake, fraud shamed into being a man by the strength and resolve of his young companion - 3/5. I Am Number 4 seems to be a big screen take on Kyle XY with Alex Pettyfer playing a young man who is one of nine alien youth smuggled off to Earth, where he is hunted down by evil aliens whose motives are somewhat messy. In true Superman fashion, Pettyfer learns to use his super powers, fit in at school, befriend geek, defeat jocks and bullies, find love with Twilight-lite girl and cataclysmically defeat the aliens in a fight which will cause the school to lodge a large insurance claim. Oh and there is a shape-shifting dog too. there are a few nice shots of Pettyfer in states of undress too, which give it a healthy 3/5.