DVD Review - The Darkest Hour

Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) stars as Shawn, a software designer who travels to Moscow to pitch his new web site, GlobeTrot.com, to Russian investors. Off the bat, Shawn learns that his web site idea got stolen. It's funny because Shawn's partner is Ben, played by Max Minghella who co-starred in The Social Network, which is about a guy who is accused of stealing another guy's web site idea.

Shawn and Ben meet Natalie and Anne, a photographer and her assistant visiting Moscow too. They have drinks at a fancy, Russian bar, when then bump into the guy who stole Shawn's web site. While at the bar, all the power goes out and out of the sky falls these bright, yellowish lights. These lights turn out to be invisible aliens who can absorb and instantly burn any one they touch. All five young people become trapped in the basement of the bar as the alien invasion is unleashed.

When they emerge from the basement, they find eerie, empty streets and areas of great destruction. It's evocative of other, post-apocalyptic movies. It's Skyline (2010) meets Vanishing on 7th Street (2010). Both those movies were not well-received, and this one wasn't either probably because it's somewhere in the middle of those two. It's middling, sci-fi horror. I did appreciate how director Chris Gorak made Moscow empty and created some interesting destruction scenes.

We've seen abandoned cars, scattered or clustered before, but the aftermath of a destroyed bridge and a plane crash are particularly beautiful in a creepy way. I'm not sure if it's Gorak's fault or if it's the fault of the writer, Jon Spaihts, but, beyond the initial setup, we get nothing more of these young people. They're just scared young people running around, no character development.

Two Stars out of Five.
Rated PG-13 for sci fi action violence and some language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 29 mins.