Australia's Best Movie Magazine

Film reviews

Gone

Amanda Seyfried is uninspiring in this lazy thriller, which fails to mine its derivative premise for even the cheap thrills anticipated by audiences.

The Killer Elite

It’s formulaic, but it’s also packed with atmosphere, intrigue and the charm of a veteran action cast.

Tyrannosaur

It’s dark and tough-going material, but totally worth it thanks to the brilliantly gutsy performances and the hope of redemption always in sight.

Contraband

Derivative and undemanding, but if you’re after a cracking slice of cinematic escapism, this won’t disappoint.

search the site

Enter search term:

newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter

Enter search term:

The Darkest Hour (Film)

by Michal Simms | January 18, 2012 11:22 | Edited January 18, 2012 11:24

Despite its grand setting on the streets of Moscow, this sci-fi thriller fails to ignite due to its poorly drawn characters, lack of suspense and dull direction.

Boasting a talented young cast and promising director, this US/Russian co-production squanders its potential, missing the mark in almost all areas. The plot revolves around Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) who travel to Moscow for a business venture, only to find that their social networking concept has been plagiarised. Drinking away their sorrows at a swanky nightclub, they hit it off with fellow travellers, Anne (Rachael Taylor) and Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) - but the foursome's night of partying is cut short when the city comes under attack by a vague extraterrestrial force.

 

The twist here is that the aliens are invisible, but their presence triggers off anything powered by electricity, offering a warning device to their attacks. Armed with this knowledge, the hip young travellers fight for survival on the deserted streets of Moscow.  

 

The screenplay by Jon Spaihts (who also helmed Ridley Scott's upcoming Prometheus... and let's hope this isn't a sign of things to come) is undercooked, offering little explanation as to the aliens' motives. Instead of creating mystique, their lack of screen presence is insipid. Even less compelling are the characters, whose wafer thin development makes their disintegration into vapour meaningless. The general lack of fun inherent in the script drains any potential enjoyment as a hokey piece of sci-fi trash, and the cast are completely wasted on wince inducing dialogue.

 

Director Chris Gorak (who also has an impressive resume, working as art director for Fight Club and Minority Report, as well as making a respectable directorial debut with doomsday thriller Right at Your Door) fails to generate suspense, and imbues the material with surprisingly dull aesthetics. When the audience is made privy to the aliens' true shape, the film devolves from super bland to super bad, revealing appallingly designed creatures that are strangely reminiscent of floating Pokémon characters. 

 

The real star of the film is the city of Moscow, whose majestic architecture offers a refreshing backdrop for an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller - but  location alone is not enough to make up for the muddled concept and overwhelming shoddiness of the entire affair. The Darkest Hour truly is a bleak hour and a half.