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

Production was suspended for a planned two weeks due to the extraordinary air pollution caused by heavy smoke from the wild fires surrounding Moscow in August 2010. It eventually resumed three weeks later. Even with this precaution, smoke still made it into a lot of shots and had to be digitally removed in post production.

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Goofs

Toward the end of the film when the characters have to jump off the boat into the river, Sean and Natalie both jump in together holding hands. All the characters except Natalie emerge together and climb aboard the submarine. Somehow Natalie has managed to end up in the city, clearly more than a few kilometers away.

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Quotes

Boris: Welcome to Russia, sucker.

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Connections

References Dora the Explorer (2000)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

I don't get why there's so much hate for this movie

I don't know why critics panned this movie so much. Did they expect a different movie than what they saw? After seeing the trailer, this looked like a fun movie so I gave it a shot and was not disappointed. It was pretty much like I thought it was going to be. Sure the whole alien invaders thing has been done a lot, and this sticks to the formula to a certain extent (minus the annoying deus ex machina plot device), but it was original enough to set it apart.

The acting, while not Oscar worthy, was definitely fine for this genre of movie. The setting (deserted Moscow after the invasion) was well done, and the effects (apart from the opening airplane shot) were pretty good too. There was just enough suspense and action to keep things interesting, and while I didn't feel a deep bond with the characters, I still rooted for them to survive.

All in all, this was a pretty fun movie, and throughout it I keep wondering to myself why there were so many bad reviews because I was definitely liking it.

Don't listen to the "critics" who are too full of themselves and don't get this kind of movie; judge for yourself. If after seeing the trailer you think you'll enjoy the movie, you probably will (if you go into it unbiased). I definitely did.