The Darkest Hour
Two American software designers (Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella) and two female tourists (Olivia Thirlby, Rachael Taylor) hook up in a nightclub in Moscow—just in time to get caught up in an alien invasion of Earth. They’re 8,000 miles from home, they don’t speak the local language and the aliens are invisible. Give writers Jon Spaihts, Leslie Bohem and M.T. Ahern credit for coming up with a novel twist on the old War of the Worlds premise. It’s refreshing to see someplace besides Manhattan, Tokyo or L.A. getting the destruction-from-space treatment. It’s a bit like last year’s Attack the Block, but without the same street energy (if Attack the Block was London hip-hop, this one is Europop disco). Credit is due, too, to director Chris Gorak for keeping the action moving along at an entertaining clip.
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