Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) are in Moscow to sell their computer software. They meet Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) at a nightclub. Then things go terribly wrong. The lights go out, and some strange UFOs are falling down. They turn out to be aliens that zap their victims. It becomes a run for their lives.

The CG is pretty good. The Moscow setting is interesting because it's different. At least we're not blowing up the White House yet again. It's a pretty simple concept, and done fairly well. Sure it's been done countless times but I don't hold that against any movies. Almost every movie can be called derivative of something from before. The ending does need to be much bigger however. It's very well done up until then.

The American software designers Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) travel to Moscow to sell their software in a business meeting with investors. However, their Swedish partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) pulls a fast one on Sean and Ben and they are out of the business.

Sean and Ben go to a nightclub, where they meet the American Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) and they flirt with the girls and see Skyler in the club. Out of the blue, the population is surprised by lights that seem to be an Aurora Borealis. But sooner they learn that the lights are aliens invading Earth and using power supply to annihilate the mankind.

Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler hide in the kitchen and when they leave the place, they seek out survivors on the street. Are they the last persons on Earth?

"The Darkest Hour" is a terrible sci-fi film with many fake reviews in IMDb promoting this flick (click on the author's name of the favorable reviews and see how many reviews they have in IMDb).

The storyline and the screenplay seem to be inspired in the also awful "Skyline", but taking place in Moscow instead of in Los Angeles. Fortunately I have just seen this boring film on DVD and it was possible to rewind to see the part when I slept despite being an action sci-fi film. The worst, the end of the story has the clear intention to be continued. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora da Escuridão" ("The Darkness Hour")

THE DARKEST HOUR is another 3D-shot science fiction movie about an apocalypse caused by an invading alien race; this time around the beasties are pure energy forms that spend most of their time invisible, which helps cut down on the effects budget. This is a Russian-shot production that unfortunately gets saddled with the most generic and lame characters and actors ever (is there anyone blander than Emile Hirsch?0, with the sole exception of Joel Kinnaman who makes the best of a stock bad guy role. It's quite similar in narrative structure to CLOVERFIELD, although nowhere near as good. The 3D depth is quite nice and the SFX okay, and despite the ultra-thin storyline there's plenty of action to keep you involved. The second half is a definite step up from the first and the lengthy climax a fair bit of fun. As a passable time-waster this works.