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The Darkest Hour | 2011 | PG-13 | - 3.7.5

In Moscow, Russia five young people are faced with an unseen and unknown alien that is taking the form of a ball of energy and light and attacking the Earth by draining all things, living and inorganic, of their power supply. With Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby and Max Minghella. Directed by Chris Gorak. [1:29]

SEX/NUDITY 3 - A young man watches as a young woman across a hallway takes off her shirt (we see her back and the strap of her bra is visible) and she smiles when she sees the young man watching her.
 A teen girl groans as a young man and a young woman lean in to kiss; they pause and then rest their heads on one another's shoulders. A young man and a young woman hug. Two young women hold hands and a young woman lies with her head on the lap of another young woman. Two young women kiss one another on the cheek in greeting.
 Two young women discuss how attractive a photograph of a young man is; one young woman later points to the young man and tells the other young woman how attractive she thinks he is. A young woman is overheard trying to explain to a man that she and another young woman are "lesbian" and have herpes (this is not true). A young man makes a joke to another young man about "getting laid." A young man makes a crude remark to another young man about the other young man's mother leaving a shirt in his room the previous night.
 Throughout the movie, a young woman wears a gauzy, low-cut, sheer shirt with a dark-colored bra visible under the shirt. We see young woman in a club wearing short dresses.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - Throughout the movie we see people blown into tiny particles and ash by unseen balls of energy (no blood is visible) and scenes include the following: Two young men watch as a ball of energy consumes another young man, the young man fires a gun at the ball of energy but moments later is sucked in to it, his body is slammed against a car hood and seconds later shredded into ash (we later hear the two young men tell two young women that the young man had been killed); a young man rescues a teen girl who is about to be lifted up by a bolt of electricity shooting out from a ball of energy, and his leg is caught by the bolt and he is lifted away and shredded into ash as another young man watches in horror; a young woman watches in horror as another young woman is sucked into a ball of energy and is shredded into ash; a young man slams a door on a young woman and we watch as an arc of electricity wraps around her throat and pulls her into a ball of energy, shredding her body into ash while two other young women watch her die (one of the young women later brings up the incident to the young man, who tells her he was forced to save himself); a man shoots a microwave gun at an unseen ball of energy as it approaches and the ball turns and consumes the man as a young man watches (we see ashes spray from the ball of energy); a police officer approaches a ball of energy and is sucked in as a crowd of young people watch and panic (the policeman turns into ash that explodes from the ball) and moments later a second police officer shoots at the ball of energy, and the bullet shreds into countless pieces; a ball of energy chases several young people as they run for cover and we see three young men sucked into the ball and shredded into tiny pieces; a man and a young man are forced backwards as a ball of energy hits a doorway, the man is electrocuted moments later as the ball of energy hits a puddle where the man is lying and the young man escapes unharmed; a dog is shredded into ash by an unseen ball of energy as two young men watch and we hear the sound of the dog yelping just before it explodes.
 A man throws bottles of liquor onto a ball of energy and the ball catches fire as the man shouts; the ball of energy arcs and a massive fireball blows through a bar, hitting the man and presumably killing him.
 A ball of energy approaches a young woman and a young man hiding in a bus, and arcs of light spark at the young woman and the young man are thrown to the ground; a microwave gun is fired at the ball repeatedly until it becomes a brown octopus-like alien that threatens the young woman, and she throws a stick through the ball of energy and it implodes (the young man and young woman escape unharmed).
 An unseen ball of energy approaches a young woman hiding in a store and she is grabbed by a young man before being consumed (we see a small portion of the young woman's hair shredded when the ball of energy hits it). We see a man's leg with a large bloody cut as he covers it with his pant leg.
 A young man trips and is cornered by an unseen ball of energy, he fires a microwave gun at the ball, three men fire guns and a flamethrower at the ball, and it blows up and the young man escapes unharmed.
 Two young men drag an injured young man into a storage area; we do not see the injured man's face but later see the two young men wrapping a body tightly with plastic wrap and tape and it is implied that the young man died (we later see, during a time-lapse, the body in different locations in a storage room with three young men and two young women).
 Two young men and a young woman escape from an apartment moments before it catches on fire; we see the flames of the apartment in the distance and hear a second explosion as a generator in the apartment catches fire.
 Three men use guns, flame-throwers and a microwave gun to lure three large balls of energy to a body of water while a teen girl throws multiple flaming bottles near the balls of energy, forcing them over the water, where they explode into brown bits.
 Two young women and three young men enter a building, we see many bullet holes on the ceiling and walls and one young man picks up a machine gun and fires it at the ceiling after a small chunk of plaster falls down (no one is injured). Four men fire guns, flamethrowers and a rocket launcher at an unseen ball of energy; we see the ball turn into flames and a small black piece of char falls to the ground.
 Two young women and two young men look shocked as they see massive holes in the ground with beams of light going to the sky and buildings are seen collapsing into the holes. Throughout the movie we see a city in shambles; a shopping mall has a massive airplane crashed into it, a bridge is smashed by a too-large ship passing under it, and many cars are seen abandoned and crashed along a motorway.
 A teen girl draws a gun on two young women and two young men; she insults them and drops her gun seconds later. A young man is startled when he hears gunfire; he looks from the top of a tall building to see a young man holding a machine gun and walking through a street crowded with abandoned cars.
 A teen girl, a young woman and a young man lurch forward as their boat hits an embankment. A young man panics as the airplane he is in loses power; moments later electricity returns and the pilot announces that the electricity had simply shorted out momentarily. A young woman stumbles as she walks; she steadies herself and is unharmed. A young man plays a video game on an iPod (we see the small screen) and we see soldiers with guns racing through a hallway.
 A young man panics and shouts as a small amount of wind blows through a hallway and another young man shouts. We see two young men arguing in profile (no shouting is heard). A young man shouts at another young man, saying, "Do you want to get yourself killed?" A man shouts at several young men and young women, saying that an unseen force was "microwaving" Moscow. We see an empty dance club and a young man says, "They killed everyone" (we see no bodies or blood). A young man tells another young man "there is no home," and further explains that he thinks that people all over the world had been killed by unseen alien balls of energy. An elderly woman tells a young man that they are going to be killed and a young man translates what the woman said to several young men and young women, saying "We're all gonna die." A man dramatically tells a young man that he had received orders from a man who is now deceased. A young man warns a man that they will die if they remain in a city overrun by unseen balls of energy; the man tells the young man that he knows he will die eventually and that he might as well die in his city and kill at least one enemy. A man explains to a young man that a gun will use microwaves to destroy an unseen force. A young man jokingly tells a woman that another young man had been dropped on his head as a child. A young woman jokingly tells another young woman that she does not want "to end up as a human lampshade." A young man makes a crude remark about urinating in a tin can.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 implied F-word (it is mouthed), 3 sexual references, 23 scatological terms, 7 anatomical terms (including one translated Russian instance in subtitles), 10 mild obscenities, name calling (naïve, little lambs, wolf, straight up thief, not as dumb as I thought, crazy, suckers), 3 religious profanities, 11 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - On multiple occasions we see young men and young women drinking liquor, including at a club and on one occasion a young man drinks liquor directly from the bottle, liquor is used on multiple occasions as an accelerant for explosions, and a young man jokes with another young man that his plan is to "get drunk, laid and end up in prison."

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Russian-American relations, alien invasions, intellectual property, courage.

MESSAGE - Alien invasions can be very unpredictable.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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