The Darkest Hour

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Alien invasion flick has lots of violence but little blood.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that although this alien invasion movie has little blood and gore, there's lots of death, including main characters. The aliens are invisible, and the humans die in a puff of ashes. There's some mild flirting and innuendo; language is strong, with frequent use of "s--t." Characters drink vodka in a nightclub in one scene. The movie is set in Moscow, and viewers see two very prominent Russian McDonald's ads. Fans of this genre have seen better and could probably do worse, but most teens will probably find it a forgettable experience.

  • Amid the movie's war violence, young people in their 20s work together to solve problems. Main characters put their lives at risk to help others. And there's a sense of camaraderie among people from different cultures.
  • The two male heroes show bravery and empathy throughout the story. They continually work to stay positive, find solutions, and help others. The characters aren't particularly deep, but they do make a nice team. Two female characters also show strength and courage.
  • Most of the human race is wiped out by an alien attack. Humans simply explode into ashes and disappear, with no blood or gore. Some main characters die. There are guns and shooting, a rocket launcher and flamethrower, explosions, and general chaos. Viewers see brief, scary alien faces. A dog is vaporized. Some brief arguing, and a violent zombie-shooting video game is quickly shown.
  • Main characters flirt in a nightclub scene, and there's some mild, brief innuendo. The female lead removes her shirt and is seen wearing a bra. There's a near kiss, which is interrupted.
  • One "f--k" and frequent use of "s--t," plus some use of "hell," "ass," "oh my God" (as an exclamation) "piss," "goddamn," "prick," "a--hole," and "bitch" (the last is spoken in Russian and seen in English subtitles).
  • Russian McDonald's ads are shown twice, prominently, with the easily recognizable "M" in the foreground. There's also a Russian Starbucks, though the sign is less recognizable.
  • Characters drink vodka in a nightclub. No one appears drunk.

What's the story?

Best friends and American dot-com entrepreneurs Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) travel to Moscow looking to expand their website but find that a local lowlife (Joel Kinnaman) has stolen their idea. Later, at a cool nightclub, Sean and Ben meet fellow travelers Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Just as the fun is about to begin, weird lights start descending from the sky. Unfortunately, they turn out to be killer, invisible aliens, aiming to turn the entire human race into ashes. The main characters survive the initial onslaught, but can they make their way to the American embassy and find help? Or does a deadlier fate await them?


Is it any good?

 

The Darkest Hour is hardly original at this point, and though many of its fellow alien invasion movies are terrible, this one has the "advantage" of being merely dull. The characters aren't deep or interesting, but at least they aren't irritating. The invisible aliens aren't scary, but at least they aren't cheap looking.

Chris Gorak -- a former art director on spectacular-looking films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club, The Man Who Wasn't There, and Minority Report -- directs. Unfortunately, he provides nothing terribly interesting to look at, except for vacant Moscow city streets. Though the main characters are Caucasian Americans, some of their cultural displacement is used to good effect, and the heroes are generally polite to their Eastern hemisphere neighbors. It's too bad the movie isn't more daring or exotic -- or fun.


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What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. Is it justified in this case? Did the story leave any other options?

  • Is the movie scary? What's the scariest part of it? What would happen if the characters didn't have goals to strive for?

  • How well do the five main characters show teamwork? Which members are the weakest links, and why? Does the movie ultimately have positive role models and messages?


This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Teen, 14 years old
December 28, 2011
 
Overall good alien movie for teens, intense but no violence
Positive Messages/Role Models: Most of the four main characters are brave, stick together, and fight to escape. One main character starts out as a bad role model (carefree, rude) but later develops into a good role model who watches out for his friends and solves puzzles to escape the aliens. Violence: Many, many people die (including two main characters and two supporting characters) but there is not a single drop of blood or gore throughout the whole film. Instead, when killed by the aliens, people just turn to dust. There is a feeling of dread though out the whole movie, but no jump-out-and-scare-you moments. Sex: In one brief scene people at a nightclub flirt and a couple is seen making out briefly. A couple sexual jokes in the beginning that will go over kid's heads (example: "Nice shirt" "Yeah, your mom left it in my room last night") In once scene a female character is changing her shirt and is shown in a bra, and a male character sees, though the scene doesn't seem really sexual at all. Two characters almost kiss, but are interrupted by another saying "eww". I wish they did kiss though, it would've been really sweet :) Language: Sh*t is used throughout (but mostly only by one character) a few uses of b*tch and a*s and ne use of p*ick Drinking, drugs, etc.: People who are of age drink at a nightclub in the beginning but no one appears drunk and by the end of the movie, so much has happened that the drinking scene seems minor. Hope this helped, I thought it was overall a great film (despite a few moments of bad CGI) Enjoy the film!

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Parent
December 30, 2011
 
Bad movie great for Teens
A wanna be alien invasion movie that teens will love not scary but if you have soft kids they may not wanna watch it

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Teen, 16 years old
January 2, 2012
 
More like the worst hour.
This movie is a thriller, thrillers are not meant for young children. Also, the movie has a horrible plot and a horrible ending. Not worth your time, and not meant for your kids time.

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Adult
January 1, 2012
 
Good movie. Go see it.
I really liked this movie. Good script, some cool new special effects, and it moved along quickly. It's too bad it's not getting much advertising. More people should see it.

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Kid, 11 years old
January 8, 2012
 
The Best, Smartest Hour
Great scenes of people getting incinerated into dust and ash.

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Kid, 12 years old
January 28, 2012
 
Loved it
Loved It. MUST SEE MOVIE

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Teen, 14 years old
January 15, 2012
 
Definetly should be rated R!!!! So much violence!
Way to much violence for a teen! This movie, even though their is minimal blood, has plenty of killing and a very high body count. Mainly people die by getting burned to ash! It is very graphic! plus a dog dies which may be to disturbing to younger viewers...movie wasnt even that good..... parents should see by themselves.

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Teen, 15 years old
February 4, 2012
 
Not Bad
This movie wasnt that bad. It has no gore which is great for me! Some action, theres drinking in bar at the begining of the movie and there is cussing. However, there are some sad parts, but this was an entertaining movie.

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Parent
February 2, 2012
 
the less scariest horror ever.
not scary but it can be scary for little kids that are not a pre teen.

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Teen, 15 years old
January 31, 2012
 
The title is actually better than the movie
Incredibly boring. Should be called The Dullest Hour. The acting was terrible, and the movie fails to thrill or scare at all. Also, the CGI is even worse than Ghost Rider's. Bottom Line: Thumbs way down

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This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Topics:space and aliens
Studio:Summit Entertainment
Director:Chris Gorak
Cast:Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Olivia Thirlby
Genre:Science Fiction
Run time:89 minutes
Theatrical release date:December 25, 2011
DVD release date:April 10, 2012
MPAA rating:PG-13
MPAA explanation:sci-fi action violence and some language

This review was written by Jeffrey M. Anderson
 

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

 

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