The Darkest Hour (I) (2011)

In Moscow, five young people lead the charge against an alien race who have attacked Earth via our power supply.

Director:

Chris Gorak

Writers:

Jon Spaihts (screenplay), Leslie Bohem (story),

Stars:

Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Emile Hirsch	...	Sean
Olivia Thirlby	...	Natalie
Max Minghella	...	Ben
Rachael Taylor	...	Anne
Joel Kinnaman	...	Skyler
Veronika Vernadskaya	...	Vika
Dato Bakhtadze	...	Sergei
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Matvei (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Nikolay Efremov	...	Sasha (as Nikolai Efremov)
Georgiy Gromov	...	Boris (as Georgy Gromov)
Artur Smolyaninov	...	Yuri (as Arthur Smoljaninov)
Anna Rudakova	...	Tess (as Anna Roudakova)
Pyotr Fyodorov	...	Anton Batkin (as Petr Fedorov)
Ivan Gromov	...	Bartender No. 1
Aleksandr Chernykh	...	Bartender No. 2 (as Alexsandr Chernyh)

Storyline

The American software designers Sean and Ben travel to Moscow to sell their software to investors. However, their Swedish partner Skyler pulls a fast one on Sean and Ben, and they are out of the business. They go to a nightclub, where they meet American Natalie and Australian Anne and they flirt with the girls and see Skyler in the club. Out of the blue, the population is surprised by lights, which they mistake for natural phenomena. But soon, they learn that the lights are aliens invading Earth and using power supply to annihilate mankind. Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler hide in the kitchen and when they leave the place, they seek out survivors on the street. Are they the last people on Earth?

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Plot Keywords:

alien | nightclub | aurora borealis | bricking up a window | abandoned car | 

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Taglines:

The Invasion Begins Christmas Day

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [es]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

25 December 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

La última noche de la humanidad

Filming Locations:

Academy of Science Plaza, Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,000,000 (USA) (23 December 2011)

Gross:

$21,426,805 (USA) (24 February 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Summit Entertainment, Regency Enterprises, Bazelevs Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (as Datasat Digital Sound) Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The boat the refugees use to try to reach the submarine is named "Orca" (spelled "orka" in Cyrillic).

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Goofs

The radio that the group finds in the US embassy works because it was protected from the EMP strike inside the bird cage which acted like a Faraday cage. A Faraday cage blocks EM waves, including microwaves. The radio should not have worked in the bird cage or in Sergei's apartment.

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Quotes

Ben: Those are great burgers, Walter.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

"The Uprising"
Performed by Pilot Hill
Courtesy of Red Parade Music

User Reviews

Terrible Film with Many Fake Reviews in IMDb

The American software designers Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) travel to Moscow to sell their software in a business meeting with investors. However, their Swedish partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) pulls a fast one on Sean and Ben and they are out of the business.

Sean and Ben go to a nightclub, where they meet the American Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) and they flirt with the girls and see Skyler in the club. Out of the blue, the population is surprised by lights that seem to be an Aurora Borealis. But sooner they learn that the lights are aliens invading Earth and using power supply to annihilate the mankind.

Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler hide in the kitchen and when they leave the place, they seek out survivors on the street. Are they the last persons on Earth?

"The Darkest Hour" is a terrible sci-fi film with many fake reviews in IMDb promoting this flick (click on the author's name of the favorable reviews and see how many reviews they have in IMDb).

The storyline and the screenplay seem to be inspired in the also awful "Skyline", but taking place in Moscow instead of in Los Angeles. Fortunately I have just seen this boring film on DVD and it was possible to rewind to see the part when I slept despite being an action sci-fi film. The worst, the end of the story has the clear intention to be continued. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora da Escuridão" ("The Darkness Hour")