The Darkest Hour
Short description
The Darkest Hour is a science fiction thriller set in Moscow, where a group of young American travelers find themselves stranded during an alien invasion. Sean and Ben arrive in the city hoping to sell a mobile phone application, only to discover that a Swedish businessman has already taken their idea. They meet two American tourists, Natalie and Anne, at a nightclub, and the five strangers are thrown together when the power fails and the city is attacked. The aliens are invisible and can channel electricity as a weapon, killing people in the streets. The survivors take shelter underground and later emerge to find Moscow deserted, forcing them to work out what the invaders are and how to fight back.
The film was directed by Chris Gorak, working from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jacobson. Emile Hirsch plays Sean, with Rachael Taylor, Olivia Thirlby, Joel Kinnaman, Max Minghella and Veronika Vernadskaya in the main roles. It was a co-production between Russia and the United States and had a budget of 30 million dollars, going on to earn 65 million dollars worldwide.
Reception was mixed. On IMDb the film holds a rating of 4.9 out of 10 from around 66,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 5.3 out of 10 from roughly 1,600 votes, while a critics' score of 3.3 out of 10 from 60 reviews places it below both audience measures.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Natalie’s repaired cell phone was returned to her on the submarine, she received an SMS message from her mother, which is impossible, as all cellular base stations would have long since failed, as would any electronics exposed to a strong electromagnetic field during operation. Also, the submarine itself is capable of shielding radio signals, so the phone might simply not have been detected even by a working base station.
- Only one trolleybus starts moving when the alien approaches.
- As the monster approaches, a high-voltage electrostatic field is created, as demonstrated by the scene of the girl's hair being attracted to it. With such a field, all dust, paper, and debris should be attracted to the monster, making it visible during daylight hours.
- The radio reports that the nuclear submarine K-152 Nerpa is docked at the pier, however, its draft is 9.7 meters, while the guaranteed depth of the Moskva River's navigable channel in the city center is 3 meters.
- In the film, Matvey states that the Moskva River flows north of Moscow, when in reality, the opposite is true.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
