Title: The Darkest Hour (2011)
Director: Chris Gorak
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel
Taylor
Review:
The Darkest Hour is the kind of film I watch for amusement
purposes only. Going into it I knew it wasn’t going to be the most thought provoking, deepest or smartest film I’d ever seen, I’d read a couple of
reviews, I had a general idea of the kind of movie I could expect. But still,
Im a sucker for sci-fi and an even bigger sucker for post apocalyptic films, so
I decided to give this one a watch. At the very least I expected a brisk, fast
paced flick with cool effects and some action. If you ask me, The Darkest Hour is an empty
film every step of the way, as most alien invasion films are. The formula
behind these movies is simple: monsters appear, humans run, humans find a way
to kill the creatures, humans fight back, monsters die and for all intents and
purposes, this is exactly the kind of film The Darkest Hour is. But a film can
stick to this formula and still entertain, the question remained, would The Darkest
Hour at least do that?
In The Darkest Hour we meet a pair of computer programmers
that have just created the newest website that’s apparently going to take over
the world. They’ve presented their idea to a group of Russian businessmen and
are ready for their first official meeting. Problem is that once they get there they find out they are no longer needed, some douche bag stole their idea and
is now presenting it as his own. So as they ponder how to counter attack this humongous
backstabbing, they decide to go out on a drinking spree, to see if they can
hook up with some Russian girls. Low and behold they end up hooking up with a
pair of American girls! Things are looking up until suddenly these strange
yellow lights start dropping from the heavens! Upon closer examination they
learn that these strange lights are actually energy absorbing aliens! They turn
humans into ashes and they mean to invade our planet!
So yeah, nothing really new here; basically, if you’ve seen
films like Independence Day (1996) and Skyline (2010), then you’ve seen The
Darkest Hour. The ‘new’ element that the film brings to the table is that it
was shot entirely in Russia
And speaking of the aliens, this is where I met my first
real disappointment with this film. And it’s sad really because this film could
have been so much better had they put a bit more of an effort with the look of
the aliens. Here’s what happens with this movie: it might be walking on tired
ground, and showing us situations and premises we’ve seen a gazillion times
before, but it looks good, it was well shot and it has a likable bunch of
characters. Hell, at least it’s not like Skyline, a film populated by a bunch
of douche bags. So anyways, The Darkest Hour is not a bad looking little movie,
the cast is doing a respectable job, the film even made me care for some of it’s
characters! But then the aliens show how they look and you feel like you wished
they had stayed invisible. Just imagine the cheapest, crappiest computer
animation you could think of, and amplify it by ten. I seriously don’t understand
how this director let this alien design slip by him. I thinking it was a last
minute thing, a rushed job, apparently, they had no time to do something worth
watching.
A pity too since I found myself mildly enjoying the flick,
and to be honest, it’s not a completely horrible movie it’s just that it has a
couple of hiccups here and there that scream lazy. For example, this old man
that the kids meet is a genius and he’s devised a way to kill the aliens with
this microwave gun he’s invented. The thing probably took the old man months to
make, and he hands it to these kids so they can fight the aliens. So anyhow, at
one moment the good guys figure they need another gun to fight the aliens with,
so what do they do? They build an exact replica of it in something like five
minutes! I was like what?? There’s lot’s of inconsistencies like that one…things
that simply take you out of the movie. You’ll be asking yourself why? How? I’ll
tell you why and how, lazy filmmaking! So let’s see, plot holes galore, nonsensical
happenings, and a tired plot, damn, there’s many things against this one, I
recommend this one only for those with a stomach for b-movies (like me) who don’t
mind so many inconsistencies and are forgiving with their bad movies. I call it
for what it is, but still found some enjoyment with The Darkest Hour, even if I
did feel like I’d seen this flick a million times.
So this flick was directed by a guy called Chris Gorak, he’d
directed only one other film before and it was another post-apocalyptic film
called Right At Your Door (2006) which I started watching once but had no time
to continue. I will try and re-watch it again soon, especially since I’m on a
post apocalyptic kick these days. Thing about Mr. Gorak is that he’s worked
with a lot of famous directors like Terry Gilliam and David Fincher, but on a
technical level; as art director and production designer. Gorak has done all sorts of jobs in all kinds of films and well; I guess he decided to
put all that experience to good use directing his own film. With The Darkest
Hour he finally got his chance to direct a theatrical release,
unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Gorak still has a ways to go in terms of
learning what makes a good film work. Making things believable even within your
fantastical context is a good way to start. Also, trying to go for a bit more
originality. As it is this feels like a low budget version of Independence Day.
I can watch aliens falling from the sky, but if you show it in a believable
fashion I’ll believe it. That’s the magic and illusion of movies anyways,
making us believe the unbelievable. But if you give me these cheesy looking
aliens, then your movie goes down a couple of notches, sorry dude!
Rating 2 1/2 out of 5
