Review of The Darkest Hour (2011) by Aaron A — 30 May 2012

"Welcome to Russia sucka".

Synopsis: This sci-fi adventure tracks a group of young Americans touring Moscow who get caught up in an alien invasion.

Over the past few years as my taste for cinema has matured, I've noticed that the vast majority of disaster films seem to take place in the United States. Obviously this has to do with the fact that most of the disaster films made are produced in Hollywood, and it's only natural to set the film in the native land of it's creators. But Setting a disaster flick in another country, within another culture seems like a great opportunity to add a layer of flavor to the picture.

At least that is what one would expect. The Darkest Hour sure as hell doesn't want any of that flavor though. Despite straying from the normal and being set in Moscow (a result of the film's russian producers), the picture still feels generic enough to be placeless, which is symbolic of the entire flick. The film's high concept of attacking aliens made out of electricity has the potential to be solid commentary on the human race's unnerving reliance on electrical power and digital technology; instead all we get is the occasional cell phone being used in a manner that would make for interesting play mechanics in a video game.

The film's literary aspects amount to "How to turn a household microwave into a space gun", but the film must have some wicked spectacle, right? Not really, the picture had a big enough production budget to be noteworthy (District 9's budget was $5mil less than this one, and it is full of spectacle) but what is here is little more than crumbling city streets and floating orange balls of goo. And don't even get me started on the lousy acting, even Emile Hirsch has difficulty being convincing.

Lacking in every aspect, only it's fun immaturity saves you from falling asleep during The Darkest Hour.