The story is about two hopeful entrepreneurs named Sean and Ben, played by Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella respectively, who travel to Moscow to attempt to sell their new internet program to an international company. However, they are unceremoniously kicked off the project by their one time unscrupulous business partner Skyler, played by Joel Kinnaman. Upon finding out they have been cut out of the project, they use their program to find a local bar and meet up with a few American women, Anne and Natalie, played by Rachel Taylor and Olivia Thirlby. The four of them and Skyler are all together when the aliens start to land. And this is where we get, for lack of a better phrase, our first look at our villains.

The aliens, because of their origin and nature, are invisible to the naked eye. This is perhaps the most underestimated yet intelligent part of the film; the appearance of the invaders. After years of “Star Trek”, “Star Wars” and even the “Predator” and “Alien” movies, we are used to the biped, carbon based life forms. Here, we are finally exposed to something completely different; they utilize some kind of microwave to maintain invisibility, and visually they resemble floating skulls with rapidly rotating chains for armor. Considering they are aliens from another planet, it is reasonable to assume that they would develop differently than something from Earth.

However, “The Darkest Hour” is in 3-D; This is the one film where the extra dimension literally does nothing except but to cash in the rage that is 3-D movies. There are a few scenes with aliens that are exploding, sending shrapnel into the audience and a breathtaking view or two of the war-ravaged Moscow landscape. However, there is no significant visual benefit to the additional dimension.

That aside, the visuals are quite stunning and well thought out. The first few views of the Kremlin are colorful, even when done at night. After the first few days of the protagonists holding up in the storage room, they emerge to not only see the city in ruins, but it seems so much more drab and depressing. When Sean and Natalie are knocked into a river, the camera bobs up and down in the water to show the desperation of the characters. Even when switching to the view from the aliens’ perspective, there is a dynamic and interesting use of color. The only bad part of the visuals is the deaths of the poor, hapless humans. The way they are killed is eerily reminiscent to the alien invaders of “War of the Worlds.” The only difference there is Spielberg allowed the dusty remains of the victims to be used as a dramatic statement instead of just looking cool.

The main drawback to this movie is the story. Although it is possible to make a good movie within a previously established genre, this one just goes too into its own cliché. A few common, everyday people are thrown into this extraordinary situation of an alien invasion. A few of them are killed, and the rest of them bind together to overcome the menace, one way or another, and together, with a rag tag bunch of other survivors, overcome the menace. There just wasn’t anything special about this movie, nor was it bound for the garbage bin. The characters weren’t unique, but they weren’t Roth quality party animals with no deeper developments. The visuals were breathtaking from time to time, but not at all inspired. It’s not bad, but mostly forgettable.

Write Comment
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!