The Darkest Hour: Blu Ray Review

The Darkest Hour: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox

As settings go, moving an alien invasion film to Russia is perhaps one of the smarter moves I've seen on the small screen in a long time.

Sean and Ben have headed to Moscow to seal a deal for their internet company; but finding it stolen from them, the pair takes to the streets to have a bit of fun. That's where they meet up with Natalie and Anne - and that's also where it starts to go badly wrong.

When a power cut hits, and the sky's flooding with lights, it all looks awful pretty to the four of them. But that's also when the alien invasion starts and soon, the gang's just trying to stay alive against an enemy none of them can see, let alone fight.

The Darkest Hour is a case of great premise, cool effects, terrible characters and bad plot.

Which is a real shame as it promises so much so early on as the first attack hits.

The turning of people into dust is a pretty impressive effect but the idea the aliens are invisible really smacks of budget constraints and unfortunately leads to plenty of scenes where the main actors are simply walking/ running/ hiding in empty streets, living in fear of very little.

Finally, when the creatures are revealed, they're a major SFX let down and destroy any enigma they may have had early on.

Not helping matters either is the whole lack of characterisation for the group, leading you to not really care about who's about to cop it or be at all surprised when they do go. For a thriller, that's an unforgiveable crime.

Ultimately, The Darkest Hour is a big disappointment - and the fact it hints at the potential for a sequel is a real stunner - and not in a good way.

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