The Darkest Hour (2011)

the audience applauded

best movie i've ever seen.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The film is okay for a boring evening. That it comes with Netflix is a clear advantage. Otherwise nothing special. The usual white heterosexual American male. You have all the stereotypes. Girl dies. Who cares? We have to regroup. Boy dies, well, that puts the heroes one step closer to death, because, you know, a boy can fight and be creative and stuff. Who gets them into trouble? Well, the girls. Not that the script is much nicer with the Russians. By the end, I was glad there was no KGB agent. So, in a way, this is a much better script than the 2018 New York Times or over the hill senators playing the Cold War game like their daddies.

It's definitely not an a list type movie, but the special effects are much better - cgi is getting cheap and better quickly - but they did a great job with the aliens and their actions. A few things were off, but generally great cgi, good acting of the stars although the story had some cliché type situations regarding internet start ups and evil businessmen and young teens as well a Russians. It was nice they picked Sweedes as the villain thought ;) Anyway, if you like science fiction it's worth a watch. The story could have easily been done as a 2 hour epic film with better back stories for the aliens, the stars and more of a world outlook rather then cloverfield type micro focus, but overall a good watch.

This is bad science fiction. The aliens were the only interesting thing about this movie. The rest of the movie is filled with poor plot twists and annoying characters who serve as a reminder of how easy this world would be to conquer. The human females are relegated to the first half of the film, holding hands and convincing each other that 'you can make it', even as the other one is giving up. The story line is weak. The accents are bad. The acting is sophomoric. I cannot remember the last movie where people fell down so many times just to drive the plot. This movie was a total waste of time, even if it was free to watch. I am so glad that half the world was destroyed, but the Russians were able to fix the girl's phone, so she could phone home and get an answer. What are the odds?

A very clever take on the alien invasion theme, The Darkest Hour has both the clichés of most alien films and many new and innovative twists. The electric energy beasts were especially haunting. The story development was perfect, keeping viewers on their seats for almost the entire film. Of course we have to accept the characters doing stupid things, like walking through the center of Red Square, but hey, we're here to be entertained and these elements are no less believable than the character situations we see in half the other fantasy/thriller/alien films we watch. The Darkest Hour far surpasses so many other films in this genre in just the thrill factor. Of course production quality was below the standards of blockbuster Hollywood, but in a way I'm grateful for that. It forces us to focus more on characters and the situations they are in. I really do not understand the low rating given by so many viewers. It almost seems some of them watched an entirely different film.