This movie was pretty darn awful. There never really seems like any point in the movie where there is any sort of legitimate drive beyond "lets go this way". And even then, they rarely answer the question "why". "let's go this way, because this that and the other"... and why does that matter? And beyond that, it didn't even spend that time developing any of the 5-6 main characters more than "I have a family somewhere else in the world who I'm wondering if survived!" and, about the special effects stuff, the only thing it really had to offer, were some cool death scenes, and one or two cool landscapes (the one involving the airplane was rather cool). Everything else was either dull or silly looking... If you are absolutely dying to see this movie, wait until it's on Netflix so the only thing you're wasting is the hour and a half spent watching the movie. :P… Expand

This movie borrows heavily from a Russian science fiction story story called a Roadside Picnic, not very well known in the west but it's pretty much a force in Russian storytelling equal to America's Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. This translates into a movie that might just be different and strange enough to keep westerners engaged even though the movie has some pretty weak parts. Character development does'nt always make sense, there were a few people that seemed interesting and worthwhile at the beginning that just lose all speaking lines at a certain point and simply hang around making stupid decisions until the inevitable death. The unmasked aliens look pretty ridiculous.… Expand

I would rate this film one star and that would be generous. The characters were one dimensional and you knew who was going to get killed a mile off. The special effects were on the level of a made-for-TV-movie on the sci-fi channel. The 3D was needless because there was nothing enhanced since the special effects and the aliens were practically non-existent. I would advise to save your money and time and stay home and watch a good sci-fi dvd. This movie would have appealed to children from 10-15 years old, with absolutely no knowledge of what constituents a good movie experience, plot or special effects. When it was finally over, I wished that I could have gotten my time and/or money back.… Expand

Acting universally on the "new actor" side of the scale...even the dog was no Rin Tin Tin... Think somewhere between Nick Jr. And ABC Family. I went with really low expectations invoking my motto that "bad sci-fi is better than no sci-fi" As a result? It was a solid 4.5. And I saw it in 3D ...if you can release your inner MST3K? You'll enjoy it more. Otherwise the darkest hour will be last 60 minutes of the film.… Expand

Really, invisible aliens? never before have I seen such a stupid attempt a t an action movie. Very disappointed. Check my profile for the most updated movie reviews.

The Darkest Hour is pure sci-fi crap. I like the trailer more often than the movie itself because I don't even care about alien movies anymore. I just always watch Independence Day and Mars Attacks! I like Emile Hirsch when he was Speed Racer, but the characters from The Darkest Hour is more stupider than Jack and Jill was and they don't even know what they say. The action of the movie is wasted too much time in about a minute or so and the script is a mess. Who needs Battle Los Angeles when you need 'em? Forget about renting on DVD or crappy 3-D versions, this is an absurd title with a made-for-TV monologue. "The Darkest Hour" is pretty dark and pretty damn boring. One of the worst movies of the year. They had their hour, but when the lights are out, it's game over!… Expand

**** you darkest hour... **** you... this movie was awful,, characters are boring, try's to be dramatic but lacks everything it needs to make it work. the aliens look awful.

This movie is powered by decent special effects, terrible acting, no character development, and the stupidest storyline ever. Oscar or Not? DO I EVEN NEED TO ASK THAT QUESTION!!!???

I thought the movie was awesome but it isn't. Good visual effect doesn't make up for a crappy storyline. This movie is one of the worst movie I've watched.

The film is really terrible, awful, stupid, we watching much times the alien movies, the only different is that they take Rusia, and is the only different. Cast, story, all in The Darkest Hour is horrible. Awful movie.

I've only one advice. Don't watch this movie. Terrible script , acting & story line. I don't know why I spent 10 bucks on this movie in the cinema. Although I had a feeling that this movie will suck, I didn't know that it will be THIS bad. It's so bad I want to cry.

I saw the trailors for this when it came to DVD and thought "well this looks like a fun movie" well boy was i wrong . The plot is dumb , the pacing is slugish , the acting is sub par , the special effects are ok . It feels like a Micheal Bay Film but with a twist of Lame , Dull , and pointless just it make i suck alittle bit more then a Bay film should . If you want to see a film with people fighting aliens in it see james camrons Aliens flick. Avoid this smelly turd at all cost.… Expand

The Darkest Hour is a science-fiction film starring Emilie Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, and Joel Kinnaman as five people who are fighting off a species of aliens who attack them while in Moscow. And, I know you're thinking that this sounds kind of dumb and unoriginal. Well, what were you expecting? There were many missed opportunities with The Darkest Hour. Not only was this venture unsuccessful, but it's also uninteresting, and has some pretty awful acting.… Expand

Very good in concept. Poorly executed. I'm putting a 10 to balance the score. It wasn't AWFUL. At the same time, it wasn't AWESOME. There was definitely room for improvement.

I saw the previews for this might go and see it at the movies depends what else is on or might just wait it for dvd...I have to say this all I could think of after seeing this preview was final fantasy spirits within invisible enemies, cities wiped to the ground, people being vaporised if been killed but the aliens..

Stupid movie with stupid setting with stupid characters and stupid story. As you can tell I did not like the movie AT all the only reason why I gave it a 3 is for the special effects and the design in the alien creature I sought of liked it. Nothing really happens in the film basically they're just running away, running away, running away nothing really answered thats just about it

I went to see this film with some friends and we all agreed that this film was AWFUL! Bad acting, pathetic speeches and a just awful storyline. Some giant blobs just appear in the sky kill everyone one by one and tge two main characters fall in love which is all too predictable! Stupid and rubbish! Never again!
We thought that the bad reviews were just opinions but they're definately not!

Its not extremely bad like everybody says. Its just an okay scary film that makes good use of the few ideas it has. Nothing special here, but slightly entertaining.

After seeing this film, I've decided that I don't like Timur Bekmabetov that much (who is acting as Producer here). The Russian wunderkind may be the best in his home country, but his films so far, to put it lightly, feels second rate. The critics seemed to like him so much, heaping praise for his 'innovation'. However, his higher budgeted pictures felt amateurish at best. The Darkest Hour started pretty good, but felt so unsatisfying and derivative of every Alien invasion film that you felt cheated in the end. If you want an Indie genre director that really delivers, wait for Neil Blonkamp's (District 9's) next features.… Expand

The Darkest Hour is the story of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The 3D thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects.

not bad but arent there any proper ending??==
the film is very nice but it don't look like the storyline make any sense,,anywell i quite enjoy
the 3d doest have any 3d effects,,so its the movie or the cinema's problem????

The movie was fake. I didn't like the ending and I didn't like how it was moving so fast. There is no way the rest of the world would have tons of surviors if Moscow was totally wiped out for the most part. I should have seen Devil Inside.

I saw this film with my partner tonight, and I just couldn't understand the concept. If the aliens seriously used electrical powers to "microwave" people, as they put it.. Why on EARTH didn't they just have full rubber suits on and just walked through it. Completely stupid film, acting was terrible.. Got to the point that you couldn't even understand their voices by the end! Muttering, staggering even sometimes, the ending itself was just bad. This'll be the best film, when drunk.… Expand

"The Darkest Hour" (2011) is a horror and science fiction movie about the attack of an enigmatic alien race, consisting of energy, and invisible to most of the time for normal people in the city of Moscow . The story follows a young group that meets together, when this occurs and their quest for survival. Aesthetically speaking, the film was produced to be presented in 3D, and no doubt mostlyof it are really cool - actually the best part of
the film. Moscow is shown very well, with famous city locations.

The performances are regular to bad, and full of clichés. The story is
interesting at the start, but in the final third of the film moves a
bit from the original focus, and the explanation of the invaders was
very strange and forced - not to mention it has a hook for a sequel,
wide open.

It's a good movie to watch without expectations, but nothing more than
this (or to showcase your new 3D HDTV) - the movie is worth for the
images of Moscow and its beginning. My score: 6.0 / 10.0.… Expand

It could have been better. But a more developed character and storyline would have made this a good movie. This movie has decent special effects, and a some Russian freedom fighters, which was pretty awesome :P

An alien movie with good special effects.

Is this a movie or a joke? Definitely has to go in the bottom 10 of movies I've seen. The plot is virtually non-existent. Characters are introduced, developed for 5 min. and then killed. 90 minutes of people running away from invisible forces and in the end there's absolutely no resolution. I don't know how this movie even made it into production...

Wasn't terrible like I expected it to be, but one thing's for sure, it's EXTREMELY forgettable. It's movies like this that have moviegoers like myself wishing that Hollywood would snap out of whatever moneymaking trance that they're stuck in and realize how sick and tired we are of alien invasion movies. It's just the same old-same old concept with C-class acting(Emile Hirsch is an exception only because I respect him for his work in other films.)Aside from acting, visuals are fine but not outstanding in any sense. My main problem with this movie was the script. It had to have ripped off at least a dozen other alien invasion films. That is what makes this movie so forgettable, because it's not only like every other invasion movie ever made, it literally feels like every other invasion movie ever made. It honestly felt like I was watching Battle: Los Angeles or Skyline all over again. Overall, not at all highly recommended, but if you REALLY insist on watching it, just rent it once.… Expand

I am giving this movie a10, just to Balance the score out. It was a good movie . Rating movies doesnt make sense at all. To Film up the space i also add that Emile Hirsch is really Hot.

I really enjoyed this movie. It wasn't what I would call a "good" movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it was entertaining. The acting was on the low side of mediocre, but I wasn't going to see this movie for good acting, I was going to see a movie about an alien invasion. I thought it was in interesting twist that humans couldn't really see the aliens and some of the action scenes that this results in were actually pretty cool. All that being said, I wouldn't ignore the critic ratings. If you're looking for an entertaining, relatively unusual alien invasion flick then I would certainly give this movie a shot. But what do I know, I liked "Dinner for Schmucks"… Expand

Highly mediocre, predictable and boring science-fiction movie. Earth is taken over by hostile entities, bunch of arrogant and lewd teenagers survive, get picked off one-by-one. There is no way you'll ever care about these two-dimensional characters. The only notable difference between this movie and a heck of a lot of other teenage slasher movies is that it has virtually no bloodshed and it's set in Russia. Can you believe this movie had a 30-million-dollar budget? Think of how many people have been saved this year day by paying for their medicine or food but instead we end with this forgettable, unmentionable and unbearably boring movie that will go onto the huge pile of ridiculously over-budgeted movies that have come out in the last 10 to 20 years or so. It's an insult to mankind, really.… Expand

Despite what the critics say, this isn't a bad film. In fact, it's pretty good. But what I must point out is the length of film is always important to note - I felt it was too short to hold my attention. I wanted to know more. As it was quite short, it is also useful to illustrate the pacing, as it realised it had to skip certain areas, rushing in order to make the 85-90 minute time limit. The beginning normally needs to either fill us in properly on background detail or give us time to develop it during the disaster. Although this did happen throughout the film, we did get a little background detail of some of the main characters. What made this film not sink into bad territory was the continued update of the journey to escape from the electric creatures, which I thought were awesome. It was quite courageous to use them as the mainspring in this film, as it was obvious in this situation that it was a devastating attack. It was amazing to see the characters start to rely on each other in such dire need and that rescue came when it was most needed.… Expand

Poor movie, poor acting, this movie is just terrible, bad effects, everything is wrong and messed up in this movie, now I notice that I waste my time watching this movie.

This movie was way better than I thought it would be going in. The idea alone is fairly unique and the plot plays out in a not-so-cliche fashion. Also, the cast is outstanding. Emile Hirsch is one of the most underrated young actors in all of Hollywood and Olivia Thirlby holds her own. And I'm a huge fan of Rachael Taylor. I hope she gets more and more chances to shine because she could be the next Cameron Diaz. She was great in the short-lived remake of Charlie's Angels and I see she's going to have a new show on TV this fall. As for the actual aliens, I actually really liked the concept used in this film. It wasn't the same old regurgitated idea from every other alien-invasion film before it. It uses a refreshing idea that creates an enemy that rivals any in terms of hopelessness. There were some plot holes and some aspects that were because of low-budget issues but overall, this film was very good and doesn't deserve the shortsighted criticisms many people have given it.… Expand

Not nearly as bad as the critics make out, this sci-fi fluff is actually quite entertaining, if more than a little outlandish. The Moscow setting adds welcome change to aliens always attacking America and Emile Hirsch carries things as well as he can, but he is no leading man. Director Chirs Gorak instills some flourish with the special effects and overall style but 'The Darkest Hour' never transcends unintentional B-movie territory.… Expand

I do not know about that one here but I put 10 for an alien invasion to Russia .. there is certainly something to work, but Bekmambetov ... and other producers and directors will come with time. And alien beings under an electric field rather amusing. And the whole movie as a movie. I liked .. and do not regret it one little bit that I went to watch it and then by mistake:) He planned to watch Mission Impossible-4 "Phantom of the Protocol" and simply got on Phantom: DD

From Russia, Severodvinsk.… Expand

This movie is pretty damn okay, but disappointing . I love the plot of why and how they're there. The Russian setting is very original, and interesting. Though the whole plot it's self seems like fan-fiction you'd find on "Mibba". But it's interesting in a way. I don't like the choosing of characters they left at the end, it's too ironic.. Long story short, it's a good movie. Nothing you'd mention again after you watch it.… Expand

me and my mate went to see this instead of a biology lesson at College so compared to that it's great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That movie has the perfect title The Darkest,so dark that is impossible to be seeing.Acting performances are lame,cast is even worse than any other,visual effects saves the day,but that's not enough for this movie it's a totally waste of money and time, i'd rather watch Saw

Yes, it's cheesy as all hell, but, lets face it, it is one of the better sci-fi flicks of 2011, it's actually quite inventive without just plagiarizing familiar sci-fi conventions, (skyline, anyone?), and it is a lot of fun to watch... don't trust the critics on this one...

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Fan of SyFy channel original films? Fan of B grade films? Fan of Bad movies? Well this is the movie for you! I myself LOVE a bad movie to watch mainly because they are so entertaining and fun to watch, they are also very laugh inducing. This is one of those films. Before watching this movie, I read the reviews and they were quite negative, from both audience and critics. So I thought to myself, "Is this gonna be another Skyling?" Which was dreadful by the way. So I saw the movie and I had fun watching it. It's like Skyline but better; the visuals were better, the acting was better, the script was still quite cheesy though. This film made me laugh more than anything though, especcially watching the dumbass characters getting killed by light monster things. Although, the film is way too short, the film is like under 90 minutes. At the end of the film, I was like, "Is that all?". If you are a fun of B-grade, you will surely enjoy this film.… Expand

The plot: aliens invade, everybody dies, some survive and find way to fight back, the end. So not much story there, it is 'explained' very shortly why the aliens are there but it's one of the classic reasons so not much creativity in the plot. The 'novelty' here is that the aliens are invisible (a bit like those in Final Fantasy - Spirits Within) but power up electric stuff as they pass it (lamps, cars, cellphones,...) so our heros have to move by night instead of day (inverse of zombie flicks). If the aliens kill someone they evaporate to dust (like in War of the Worlds) and the night look of the film reminds me somewhat of Cloverfield. So they stole from a lot of other good movies but it's not nearly as good as any of them. Some of the heros die, but you won't care much coz the acting isn't great. The VFX are okay for it's budget but we've all seen better. With all that said, it's not as bad a movie as you would think. If found it enjoyable as light entertainment so if you set your expectations low enough you can give your brain 90 mins of braindead fun.… Expand

At first I thought this was a pretty good movie with some great special effects and I thought it would have a really in depth storyline. After a while though, I noticed the acting wasn't the best and just when I'd gotten over that then the credits started rolling. They came much too soon to the point where you wonder whether the company had a time limit and had just run out. It's not as bad as some people are saying it is, but personally I just couldn't get over the abrupt ending.… Expand

Cool movie.

I liked the idea behind this movie, and did try to be a little different at first. But, like most movies of its kind, it falls into a generic plot outcome that meant to entertain the lowest common denominator. Acting is OK, and the effects (when you could see them) were decent, however invisible aliens did feel a little bit of cheap way out. Had they replaced the aliens with ghosts, it wouldn't have made no difference.

Overall:
A good idea that starts out OK, but then falls apart on itself.… Expand

What a great idea for a film! The concept is the best thing about this movie that covers quite a few genres. Having Moscow as the setting was also something new as I haven't seen many films shot there. The cast is likable as are the young actors playing the characters, lead by Emile Hirsch. It's not flawless and I can kind of see why the critics weren't huge fans of it, but I enjoyed it and thought it was a fresh new idea that was convicted very well! Overall it's well worth a look :)… Expand