The Darkest Hour

Like Cowboys & Aliens, in this film true stupidity and the perverted fun associated with it go hand in hand. The film is often boring - watching a small group of survivors running around depopulated Moscow quickly gets tiring. Due to the 3D, it's too dark, the screenplay is not worth talking about, and the soundtrack is a mess. Only the effects are worthwhile. After seeing the excellent trailer, the film is quite a disappointment. (Battle Los Angeles + Cowboys & Aliens + Ghostbusters = The Darkest Hour). The film gets points for the apocalyptic Russian cavalry commando. (19/12/2011)

If you liked Skyline and Shark Night 3D, you’re in the right place. The poster is more than accurate, unfortunately. The Darkest Hour is a B-movie knock-off of everything possible (though mainly War of the Worlds) with progressively declining intelligence and entertainment value, without a hint of suspense, but with WTF moments and embarrassing (Russian) supporting characters, whom the director doesn’t know how to handle with any sense of detached humor (forget about Emmerich’s cool “Engine, start!” tough guy in 2012). Not even the post-apocalyptic Moscow atmosphere works. Emile Hirsch is becoming a poor man’s DiCaprio. He even has an identical voice in some scenes. (19/12/2011)

Jesus! I never thought I’d say this, but thanks God for Skyline… Everything in The Darkest Hour is awful. I will ignore the more or less decent technical quality, thanks to which the film could make it to the cinemas, and I’ll give it an uncompromising rubbish rating, because I can’t remember when was the last time I was so disappointed, annoyed and pissed off. I’d rather be brief, because if I had to write everything I think about this film (and therefore any potential satisfied viewers), I’m sure I would get a bunch of angry messages accusing me of disrespecting differing opinions and tastes. (31/03/2012)

It’s actually just as bad as every horror movie which receives less than 50% overall rating here at Filmbooster. With the only difference being that this movie is fun from start to end and contains a decent amount of action scenes and special effects. Or, how to make a cheap yet quality movie, which is based on a B-rated or maybe even C-rated script, yet it can make the viewer happy with a certain degree of quality. (02/02/2013)

Not at all as bad a film as it is said to be. An interesting electro-idea, perfect special effects and successful action scenes, the atmosphere of depopulated Moscow has something to it and I liked the unexpected deaths of individual characters, about whom I was convinced a moment before their cremation that they would last at least until the finale. It's just a shame that instead of Emile Hirsch, they didn't give the lead role to someone a little more likable (yes, I know they needed "someone like LaBeouf", but still). (04/05/2012)