The Darkest Hour

Whenever I see a movie as generic and as dull as The Darkest Hour, I have to ask myself if the filmmakers really actually believed that they were making something worthwhile, and would stick out in people's minds. Sure, nobody ever intends to make a bad movie, but when I see a movie like this that doesn't hold a single original idea, image, or character worth caring about, I wonder what the thought process was. Did they really say, "Hey, guys, let's play it safe, and make a movie that looks and feels like a million other movies just like it"? I hope not, but I have my suspicions.

Not that the movie didn't have all the tell tale signs of a stinker when I was walking into the theater. It's a moderately budgeted Sci-Fi thriller being released with little fanfare over the Christmas weekend, and was not screened for critics. In other words, it's designed to suck in bored teenagers who tried to get in to see Mission: Impossible or Sherlock Holmes, but they were sold out. The Darkest Hour is yet another post-apocalyptic movie, where a group of people try to cling to hope after a terrible catastrophe, usually caused by a natural disaster or alien invasion (in this case, alien invasion), has wiped out most of the people around them. You've seen dozens of movies just like it, and this one is no different. It follows the playbook of these kind of movies word for word, the only thing setting it apart from others is where the story takes place.

In this case, the film's setting is Moscow. Most post-apocalyptic films (especially ones aimed at a youth market) take place in New York or L.A., so I must give credit to the filmmakers for choosing a different backdrop to set their story. But, I'm afraid I must give partial credit, as they fail to think of anything interesting to do with their unique setting. Our heroes are a couple of young best friends from America (Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella) who come to Russia to become web entrepreneurs by selling a phone app they've designed. Unfortunately, their idea is stolen by a slimy business rival (Joel Kinnaman). Their hopes of becoming instant success stories shattered, the two friends head to a local bar to drown their sorrows and pick up women, specifically two young American women who are touring Moscow (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor). While they're partying, the lights in the building and the entire city go out, and the alien invasion begins.

Glowing spheres of yellow light fall from the night sky, representing the arrival of mostly invisible hostile aliens that can turn anyone they touch into ash. The effect of the aliens turning people (and in one scene, an unfortunate stray dog) into ash seems to be lifted entirely from Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds film from summer 2005. The young people from the bar must now band together if they want to survive. Sure, we've seen this idea many times before, but it still could have worked if the characters had been written with some form of personality. No such luck. Nobody gets to show any personality or character development (other than one of the main characters falling in love with one of the girls they met at the bar), and their dialogue doesn't get much more complicated than "look at that", or, "hey guys, over here"!

The aliens are not much more interesting, since we usually can't see them in the first place. They're usually represented by long, whip-like strands of electricity that they use to capture human victims. I'm not saying the idea of invisible aliens couldn't work, but it would require an intelligent screenplay to pull it off, and a director who knew how to build tension and a sense of paranoia. Director Chris Gorak does not display this talent, as not a single sequence of the movie builds to any emotion except indifference. I should give him the benefit of the doubt, though. His last film was a horror movie called Right at Your Door, which I have not seen, but have heard very strong things about. I'm guessing this is a case of the director bending to studio pressure.

Another sign of studio interference - The movie is only 90 minutes long, and seems to end quite abruptly, as if there was supposed to be more. I'd say that they were hoping to get to do a sequel, but given the treatment the movie is getting (a quiet release over a big holiday, not being screened for critics), I doubt this is true. The Darkest Hour is the kind of movie that deserves to be swept under the rug. It's not memorable in any way, it's not well made or well acted, and it's yet another movie that proves my theory that movies that take place mostly at night should not be in 3D, as the glasses just make the picture extra muddy and murky. And no, the 3D effects are not worth the extra price of the ticket.

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