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Introduction
Plot Summary
The Good
The Bad
Judgment
Closing
Introduction
The Darkest Hour is a movie that had quite a bit of buzz going for it. A slick preview, the promise of some spooky effects, and suggestions of a new take on the old survival movie genre. Plus, it originally came to North American theaters on December 25th.
Let's see if it fulfills these holiday promises and lives up to its hype.
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Plot Summary
Five young people come to Moscow for various reasons. One pair (Ben and Sean (Max Minghella and Emile Hirsch)) for a business deal that will make them overnight millionaires, another pair (Natalie and Anne (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor)) for...reasons, and the other (Skyler (Joel Kinnaman)) for reasons related to Ben and Sean.
However, from the business deal to human supremacy on the planet earth, things go wrong for these young people after strange invisible aliens invade the city and they find themselves stranded in Moscow.
The movie follows this group of five as they find each other, avoid the aliens, and learn how to defend themselves and how to survive. However, as one day bleeds into the next, and the aliens are ever in their path to safety and salvation the group's only hope is to live through...(you guessed it) The Darkest Hour.
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The Good
Olivia Thirlby being an otherworldly attractive brunette who might just be the best actor in the bunch to boot is a fixture for the good in this movie. However, being the best actor in this bunch isn't as meaningful as it could be.
However, that fact makes this movie slightly more rewarding. Unlike most other survival horror movies, this one seems rather merciless in who it kills off. Because seeing just who lasts until the end is part of this flick's fun, nothing will be spoiled on this front, but rest assured that you're in for a ride if you watch this one.
The science fiction elements in the film are rather soft, given the movie's focus on alien invasion, but to its credit the movie brings the basic principles of electricity to bear on how the aliens (made up of waves of electricity) act quite nicely. For example, the aliens are blinded by glass since they see people by their electrical charges, and they are also blinded by a special kind of cage that holds a charge, or blocks it, or some such.
The scientific details aren't always perfect, but at least nothing ridiculous (like doing a load of laundry without a dryer sheet) is part of the solution to the alien problem.
Speaking of aliens and slightly sketchy details, one good thing about the aliens is captured in a character's explanation of their simultaneous disregard for and lack of interest in human activities: "we're just in their way."
Even though it's just a subtle nod, this line is still acknowledgement of the fact that a true alien race should be one that is completely different from us, and that nod is more than most movies of this caliber offer.
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The Bad
Sticking with the aliens like socks fresh from the dryer, they're also one of the lamer parts of the movie.
They're invisible throughout most of it, but become visible in the final fights of the flick - and their visible form is not really worth the wait. Plus, the animation used for their true forms is far too polished, or rather, too unpolished to look truly realistic. The animation of the aliens' bodies needs to be roughed up, they need more texture, to look realistic.
Again, aliens would be different from us, but it seems unlikely that the movie's director extended this to the aliens' actual appearance - aliens that actually look like obvious CGI would be curious beings indeed, but that's giving this movie too much credit.
The way that the people in the movie interact with the aliens is also somewhat unrealistic.
This is because, like many allegedly "survival horror" video games, the emphasis on the movie drops from "survival" to "destroy all aliens" rather quickly. After all, instead of developing character or overall plot through the hardship that our heroes face, they learn the aliens' weakness and exploit it to blow them to bits. Unfortunately, this appetite for destruction is so great that it also cracks the movie's premise.
And those cracks leave questions. The people behind this movie must have been expecting a sequel, though movies that are made with just the possibility of a sequel and not the expectation of one are much more likely to get said sequel.
This expectation of a sequel comes across in the absolute lack of an answer for questions about immediately important details. For example, questions like why one character freaks out so much (almost as if she's been in this sort of situation before), or why another character just up and ran over to Moscow for some guy, or why Skyler is found giving Ben and Sean's presentation entirely unannounced remain entirely unanswered.
Survival might be reason enough to run from aliens and try to find their weak point, but that survival becomes more meaningful and audiences can become more engaged if it's for a clear reason and even better if that reason is personalized for the lead characters.
The Darkest Hour, however, does not give a reason for these characters to want to survive beyond it being necessary to meet with other survivors and fight back.
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Judgment
The Darkest Hour is a movie that has some definite strong points. But it's also a movie that seems better suited to a science-fiction TV channel or a direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray release than to a theatrical one.
However, this isn't because the movie itself is bad, rather it's because the movie itself is unpolished - things seem like they were rushed.
The relationship between Ben and Sean, for example, is something that could have used just a bit more straightforward clarification; the aliens could've used more work in the animation shop; and Veronika Ozerova (playing the "tough" Vika) could have had more direction than "you're playing a bright-eyed, naive, tough Russian girl."
Nonetheless, the movie at least shines dimly. So, Freya, drag a net over the field of fallen films to bring this one up, for even a dim light is still a light.
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Closing
Next week, check out Monday's stream of consciousness entry on wind farms in Ontario, an article on the newest news, and a hunt for the good in Johnny English Reborn.
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