The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour is a Russian-American 2011 science fiction thriller^[5] film directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. The American-based production depicts an alien invasion and stars Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Olivia Thirlby, and Rachael Taylor as young people caught in the invasion. The film was released on December 25, 2011 in the United States.

Synopsis

Two young American men travel to Moscow to sell their social networking/party finding software only to find their software is already being sold by the Russian team they were to sell it to, led by a Swedish businessman. While commiserating in the company of attractive women they and many other people see an aurora-like apparition in the sky. Some of this light breaks off and lands nearby and when approached it disintegrates the human who approached it. More lights fall and aliens, invisible and protected by force fields, start attacking.

The two Americans, the Swedish businessman and two women hide for several days. When they leave their hideout, they notice that electrical devices activate when an invisible alien is near and they soon learn to use light bulbs as detectors since the bulb will glow when aliens approach.

The group learns that the entire world has apparently been invaded. The Swedish businessman is killed and the remainder head towards a light in the distance. The light is coming from a building in which there is a woman and a man, the latter of whom has constructed a Faraday cage that keeps the aliens out as well as a microwave device that he expects will help fight the aliens.

Despite suffering casualties, they meet up with Russian police who manage to wound an alien with conventional weapons. The policemen believe that the aliens are strip mining Earth for metal.

The survivors in the group make it to a submarine and build another microwave gun with the help of the crew, and plan to spread to other survivors their knowledge about how to fight the invaders effectively. They learn that Parisians have managed to destroy one of the alien mining towers and the film ends on a hopeful note.

Cast

• Emile Hirsch as Sean
• Olivia Thirlby as Natalie
• Max Minghella as Ben
• Rachael Taylor as Anne
• Joel Kinnaman as Skyler

Production

The Darkest Hour was directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. While most films about alien invasions are centered in the United States or have an international scale, Bekmambetov's involvement ensured the premise to be an alien invasion from Russia's perspective.^[6]

With a production budget of US$40 million,^[7] filming with 3D cameras began in Moscow on July 18, 2010. Production used resources from the Russian-based company Bazelevs, owned by Bekmambetov. The film was helped by Swedish visual leader who Lokan Johansson Filming was temporarily suspended three weeks later due to the 2010 Russian wildfires affecting the city and its vicinity with its smog. By September 2010, filming had resumed. In April 2011 the release date was changed to December 25 due to filming conflicts in Russia.^[8]

Release

The Darkest Hour was released on December 25, 2011 in 2D, 3D & RealD 3D.

Reception

The film was not screened in advance for critics and was widely panned. Based on 53 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an 11% overall approval rating.^[9]

The film was criticized for having a "flatlining screenplay and the absence of even a single compelling character"^[10] and for being "a depressing failure of imagination".^[11]

The movie was only marginally successful. Despite grossing roughly $64,626,786 worldwide, while making over twice its budget, it's still only a lukewarm success compared to other disaster films like 2012 and Battle: Los Angeles.

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