Director DJ Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) provides lots of slam-bang thrills and eye-popping special effects in this adaptation of Pittacus Lore’s novel, the first instalment of a six-book series.

Fifteen-year-old John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) looks like any other high school student, but the strapping young man hides an incredible secret.

He is really an alien from the doomed planet Lorien and he is hiding on Earth with eight fellow aliens from a destructive rival race called the Mogadorians.

These aggressive hunters intend to kill the Lorien refugees in a specific order, and John is next on their hit list.

John’s guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), monitors the internet to ensure that the youngster’s whereabouts remain secret.

When the Mogadorians finally catch up with John and Henri, they escape to the quaint town of Paradise, Ohio, where John befriends bullied student Sam Goode (Callan McAuliffe), who believes in the existence of extra-terrestrials.

John also becomes smitten with photography student Sarah Hart (Dianna Agron), making an enemy of her jock ex-boyfriend, Mark James (Jake Abel).

As John experiences growing pains for the very first time and decides that he is tired of running, the Mogadorians and a mysterious female assassin (Teresa Palmer) track down the teenager to Paradise and a cataclysmic battle between good and evil unfolds.