Blu-ray Movie Reviews

John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) is an extraordinary teen masking his true identify to elude a deadly enemy sent to destroy him. Living with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) in a small town, John encounters life-changing events such as his first love (Dianna Agron), powerful new abilities, and a secret connection to the others who share his destiny.

With a decent premise to build upon I thought Disney/Dreamworks had the possibility of a new teen franchise on their hands, but boy was I wrong. The paper-thin plot is predictable and bland, the acting is atrocious (especially the two teen leads), and I couldn't help feeling that I was watching the movie of the week versus a feature film.

Video Highlights

• AVC/1080p encode on a BD-50 disc
• Excellent clarity
• Deep blacks with revealing shadows
• Oversaturated color palette

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack
• Outstanding dynamics
• Adequate frequency response
• Well placed discrete effects
• Intelligible dialog

The video encode is nearly perfect with excellent clarity and detail and solid black levels, but the oversaturated colors are a tad distracting. The soundtrack features plenty of action, intelligible dialog, but the numerous explosions are a little too bombastic and unnatural.

Bonus Materials

• Six Deleted Scenes
• Becoming Number Six featurette
• Bloopers
• DVD and Digital Copy

This one is certainly catered to a younger audience who won't care as much about the shallow plot but will relate to the good looking teenage cast. While I've seen far worse movies this year, you may want to skip this one unless you really need a sci-fi fix and can overlook its numerous flaws.

Release Date: May 24, 2011
Studio: Disney/Dreamworks

Movie: 5/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS40 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Integra DTC-80.2 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PVA-PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics