The Darkest Hour is one of the latest in a long line of
alien invasion/end of the world movies, but tries to do something more than
many of the other films in this genre tend to do. Shifting the focus of the story away from America
to Moscow is a refreshing change,
giving the audience a ravaged Russia,
rather than the typically used New York
or Los Angeles.
The alien invaders in The Darkest Hour are also something a
little different. It would have been
easy for the film makers to create yet another reptilian alien or space robot
from CGI, but instead choose to create an adversary that spends most of the
film unseen.
It is this element of an unseen foe that I feel the film
does itself a disservice. Whilst the
survivors of the initial assault use the static given off by the aliens as an
early warning system of their presence, illuminating bulbs and setting of
mobile telephones, the potential for tense, creepy scenes feel oddly wasted. The directors’ choice of action over suspense
feels like an odd one, and the aliens’ uniqueness quickly looses its impact.
Following a group of survivors through the deserted streets
of Moscow it quickly becomes a guessing game of what order the characters die
in, and thanks to some very two dimensional characterisation it becomes easy to
get it right.
The latter half of the film changes pace and switches from survivors
on the run into humanity fighting back against impossible odds. I can’t help but feel that this happens too
quickly to be credible, especially as the answer for survival comes from a crazy
inventor who appears to have already been prepared for the surprise invasion of
earth. Along with an unconvincing
romance subplot this creates an ending that feels overly rushed, and one that
stick too close to Hollywood conventions to be
considered original.
Despite this The Darkest Hour is an enjoyable enough film
with an interesting alien menace and stunning death effects when the aliens attack. With a running time of little over an hour
and a half the film also doesn’t outstay its welcome. So if you’re looking for a sci-fi film that
doesn’t stray too far from convention, but has something new and interesting, The
Darkest Hour is well worth a viewing.
Amy.
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