The Darkest Hour is the latest sci-fi film to to come to the big screens. Though it’s development originates in America, the location of Moscow for the Alien innovation gives the film a whole new angle and a lot of scope to create something different.
The plot revolved around a global Aline attack, but it focuses on a group of young American (young Americans, young Americans…) staying in Moscow. As the unseen aliens decimate all life on the planet and set about harvesting all of Earth’s energy, the group start to figure out a way to fight back.
From the look of the trailer the visuals are pretty impressive in The Darkest Hour. Added to this is the fact that it was filmed with 3D cameras on a budget of just $40 million, which makes it a pretty impressive production.
While the visuals are pretty slick there’s also an element of the video camera feel that made films like Cloverfield work so well. Directed by Chris Gorak (art director of Tombstone, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club and Minority Report), you can see a lot of inspiration for The Darkest Hour in his previous work. The same can be said for the influence of producer Timur Bekmambetov, whose back catalogue includes Night Watch.
The cast of relatively unknown actors Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella and Joel Kinnaman gives the film a lot of reality. It’s a big departure from the usual Will Smith fighting aliens or zombies filch, which isn’t a slight on Independence Day or I Am Legend, it’s just good to see something different being done.
The Darkest Hour opens in cinemas at the end of December 2011 and if the trailer is anything to go by, it’s going to be an impressive display of effects and thrills.
