HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Darkest Hour, The Invisible Invaders
Year: 2011
Director: Chris Gorak
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Veronika Vernadskaya, Dato Bakhtadze, Yuriy Kutsenko, Nikolay Efremov, Georgiy Gromov
Genre: Action, Science FictionBuy from Amazon
Rating:  4 (from 1 vote)
Review: American software designers Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) are stranded in Moscow after a business deal goes sour and hook up with fun-loving girls, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) at a local bar where a sudden power shortage draws their attention to hundreds of strange lights descending from the sky. To their horror these glowing malevolent beings start disintegrating everyone in sight. Hiding in the basement along with the cowardly Skyler (Joel Kinnaman), the group re-emerge several days later to find the city in ruins as they try to find a way home whilst eluding invisible electromagnetic alien invaders.

For some reason alien invasion movies are going through a minimalist phase at the moment, with The Darkest Hour joining the ranks of Skyline (2010) and Monsters (2010) in focusing on a small band of imperilled survivors instead of the grand scale global apocalypse detailed in films like The War of the Worlds (1954) and Independence Day (1996). Co-produced by Russian genre powerhouse Timur Bekmambetov, the action unfolds in hip, happening Moscow instead of the usual American locale. Early on the film conveys faint hints of suspicion about the dodgy business practices belying glamorous new Russia, but as things play out goes out of its way to depict all its Russian characters in a wholly positive, heroic light, leaving the token obnoxious jerk role to a selfish Swede.

Following their escape, the heroes meet gutsy Russian waif Vika (Veronika Vernadskaya, whose stilted line readings do her character no favours) and eccentric electrician Sergei (Dato Bakhtadze) who whips up an electromagnetic pulse gun to combat the invisible invaders before expiring, whereupon the group run into yet another band of tough survivalists. Production designer-turned-director Chris Gorak jumps headlong into action without properly establishing his characters then proves surprisingly cavalier about killing them off and moving swiftly onto the next set-piece. The film lifts some concepts from British science fiction writer John Wyndham, notably The Day of the Triffids with the aliens using eerie lights to distract the populace, but is less focused on ideas than action, only what action there is proves more akin to a modest made-for-TV movie for the Sci-Fi Channel than any big screen blockbuster.

The cast don’t appear especially enthusiastic about the material, with some justification given the preponderance of cheesy sub-comic book dialogue and outright silly scenes as when Sean eludes one alien by posing as a shop window dummy! Among the leads, Emile Hirsch phones in his performance while Olivia Thirlby went on to make more of an impact as telepath Anderson in Dredd (2012) and Rachael Taylor, veteran of Transformers (2007), who specialises in assertive heroines is miscast here as a weepy, hysterical type who bows out early presumably because she scored a better gig on the TV revival of Charlie’s Angels.

Gorak does a nondescript job handling the various suspense sequences and the briefly glimpsed CGI aliens are far from memorable. But while the story remains somewhat aimless, things do grow livelier towards the (annoyingly inconclusive) finale. On a strictly one-dimensional pulp sci-fi level, The Darkest Hour is at least watchable only more the kind of thing you might watch while channel surfing on a rainy afternoon than rent with any great anticipation.
Reviewer: Andrew Pragasam

 

This review has been viewed 5545 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (1)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
  Stuart Watmough
Paul Shrimpton
Darren Jones
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
   

 

Last Updated: