Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Darkest Hour: First Look

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Photos and concept art from the Moscow-based alien invasion movie

You may be suffering from alien invasion fatigue, what with Falling Skies, Battle: LA, Skyline and V all on our screens recently. But the Comic Con preview for The Darkest Hour, which until now only seemed to have "set in Moscow" as its USP, has convinced some that this may be worth keeping an eye on.

Produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jacobson, the film stars Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby as two members of a group of Americans vacationing in Moscow, Russia. "And that's when the invasion happens. It happens early in our story," Bekmambetov said at the preview. "Through a frantic escape, they manage to hide and avoid the initial wave of attack." After taking cover for a few days, the group resurfaces to find that Moscow is completely destroyed.

It's the invaders themselves who make the film that little bit more interesting. As Bekmambetov explained, "We learn through their powers that they are made up of a lethal wave of energy and basically eliminated any modern technology that you can imagine." Energy beings, they are near invisible during the day, which is when they are at their most dangerous. Bekmambetov continued, "They reach out with electrical tendrils and grab their victims," said Bekmambetov. The alien energy is so intense, that upon touch it can turn a victim into "instant ash."

However, the nature of the aliens can also be their weakness. They inadvertently power-up defunct technology, so if a light bulb suddenly springs to life, you know one of them's around. You can see the dramatic potential in all this already, can't you?

The Darkest Hour is due out in the UK in January next year.