The expectations for The Darkest Hour, yet another alien invasion movie, to be different from the all the others of its type were high. Despite some awesome special effects, however, the movie didn’t impress with its mediocre acting, numerous coincidental circumstances and extremely unoriginal plot.

The movie is characterized by an all-too predictable storyline — the cheesy, expected love story — and, of course, the inevitable fact that the four main characters manage to be some of the last survivors. Granted, two of them die, taking away the perfectness of the story, yet the movie still leaves the happy couple living until the very end.

The movie did have its good parts, though. An array of captivating special effects, awesome chasing and action scenes, a great cast and a couple of unforeseen parts reduced the dullness of the movie.  The storyline did not drag too much, and it almost immediately plunged into the plot.

However, this made for an underdeveloped storyline that moved along too quickly. Everything was “figured out” all too soon, like the weaknesses of the aliens. The whole story seemed extremely scripted and didn’t connect well from scene to scene; instead, everything looked carelessly pieced together.  The four main characters were not introduced very well either, and had, what seemed like, an artificial bond. You couldn’t really relate to any of the characters, as they were not well defined.

To make matters worse, the movie trailer basically explained everything in the movie. All the main events were of no shock value and the movie pretty much seemed like an unprofessional, extremely scripted student production project. The Darkest Hour was just another clichéd love story with an alien invasion and the survival of an apocalyptic circumstance.

By Jude El Buri