FILM REVIEW OF ''THE DARKEST HOUR" (2010)

 “Right at Your Door” director Chris Gorak’s apocalyptic science fiction actioneer “The Darkest Hour” (** out of ****) qualifies as initially provocative but incredibly anti-climactic. Freshman scenarist Jon Spaihts formulated his outlandish script about a “War of the Worlds” invasion of Earth by invisible predators from a story that “Dante's Peak” scribe Leslie Bohem and first-time writer M.T. Ahern penned with him. If you’ve caught the trailer for this half-baked hokum, you know it pits a quartet of trendy, American, twentysomething guys and gals in Moscow against aliens determined to wipe out civilization while they extract all of our mineral resources. Basically, humans cannot see these extraterrestrials, but they have no trouble seeing us. These elusive aliens atomize anybody in sight without warning. If they don’t outright zap you, they snare you with a neon-like electric bolt noose and then vaporize you in a shower of dust and sparks. Despite the lethal edge which they have over humanity, these anonymous antagonists aren’t invincible. “The Darkest Hour,” as its Winston Churchill inspired title insists, charts a catastrophic course for the future of mankind. Our handsome heroes and beautiful hellcats have to figure out how to make these extraterrestrials visible before they can terminate them with extreme prejudice. Sadly, Gorak and company don’t outline the parameter in this alien procedural about what these aliens either can or cannot do. After an impressive warm up act which introduces these unusual aliens, “The Darkest Hour” collapses in the middle and then at fade-out comes to a screeching anti-climax. Indeed, “The Darkest Hour” paints humanity into a corner similar to the 2010 alien invasion opus “Skyline,” but the survivors here stand a better chance in the long run. Fortunately, mankind proves that the aliens are not indestructible. Of course, it is far too early to determine whether or not a sequel for “The Darkest Hour” will materialize where humans triumph over the aliens.

Software designers Sean (Emile Hirsh of “Into the Wild”) and Ben (Max Minghella of “The Social Network”) have been pals since they met in elementary school. Their mothers served together on the same PTA, and Ben’s mom prompted her brainy son to associate with Sean. Now, Sean and Ben are business partners. They have developed a seminal social website that points out the best party places on the globe. Our heroes are flying into Moscow to pedal their software with the help of a shrewd Swedish businessman. They are about to land when smart aleck Sean tangles with a Russian flight attendant over the probability that his cell phone could disable the electronics of an aircraft and make it crash. No sooner do our internet entrepreneurs set foot in the conference where they plan to pitch their application to investors than their Swede partner Skyler (Joel Kinnaman of “Easy Money”) informs them he has stolen their idea. Summoning security, Skyler gives our guys the boot. Sean and Ben wind up in a bar to get sloshed when they encounter two American tourists, a photographer, Anne (Rachel Taylor of “Transformers”) and her assistant, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby of “Juno”), who have followed them on the Internet. Adding insult to injury, Skyler shows up at the same bar. No sooner have our heroes chugged a few drinks than the lights go out. Curiously, everybody ventures outside for a dazzling light show comparable to the aurora borealis. Objects that resemble shimmering golden jelly fish plummet to Earth by the millions. A Moscow cop probes one with his nightstick, and he disintegrates into a cloud of dust. The crowd scatters frantically as these jelly fish aliens explode other humans one-by-one. Sean, Ben, Anne, Natalie, and Skyler lock themselves inside a walk-in fridge at the bar.

Several days later they emerge to find Moscow a place of desolation. Sean and Ben are plundering a police cruiser for equipment when an alien spots them. Any time they pass electrical devices, such as lights, car horns, cell phones, etc., the aliens activate them. Our heroes conceal themselves under the cop car, and the alien miraculously misses them. Afterward, our heroes venture out only during daylight. Naturally, they find the American Embassy in shambles, but they spot a life in a nearby skyscraper. A young Russian teenager, Vika (newcomer Veronika Ozerova), has holed up with an eccentric middle-aged Russian engineer, Sergei (Date Atbakhtadze of “Wanted”), who has constructed a cage of metal bars and chains inside his apartment to shield their own human electrical fields from the aliens. Moreover, he has also designed a “Ghostbusters” type microwave gun which can stun the aliens. Sadly, Sergei manages to prove that his weapon works, but the batteries don’t hold a charge long enough. Meanwhile, our heroes escape with the gun and head for a Russian submarine in the Moscow River which is broadcasting an evacuation signal. Sean and company link up with a militia group. The militia look like a bunch of medieval warriors with 21st century firepower. They wear makeshift suits of chain mail which consist of keys and car tags. They have even decked a horse out in similar regalia. Reluctantly, the militia agrees to escort our heroes and heroines to a rendezvous with the sub despite the heavy presence of the invisible aliens. Predictably, not everybody survives the gauntlet of aliens between them and the submarine. Ultimately, our heroes learn how to kill the aliens.

The best thing about “The Darkest Hour” is the aliens. The worse thing is we’re told squat about them. These extraterrestrials never communicate with humanity in the form of either warnings or ultimatums. Worst, since no friendly aliens live amongst us as in “Cowboys and Aliens,” we have no clue about why they have invaded Earth. A Russian militia leader speculates that the aliens have come to deplete our mineral resources and kill us in the process. Once the heroes create their microwave weapons, Gorak gives us little more than a glimpse of these enigmatic aliens. Essentially, they look like black shiny skulls with loops of chains gyrating around them. They cannot see through windows, and they have trouble operating over bodies of water. Gorak and his writers take their subject matter far too seriously and never take advantage of the goofy way the aliens appear or the crazy way that humans drape themselves with metal objects to shield the electrical energy. The 3-D version of “The Darkest Hour” has little edge over the flat, 2-D version. Meantime, neither breaks any ground where alien invasion movies are concerned.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE BOONDOCKS SAINTS'' (1999)

Bartender turned director Troy Duffy’s contemporary action melodrama “The Boondocks Saints” (**** OUT OF ****) bears all the influences of Quentin Tarantino with its ultra-violent shoot-outs, use of profanity, over-the-top situations, fractured time lines and gallery of memorable characters. Two multi-lingual Irish lads from South Boston awaken one day after they hear the Lord tell them to hit the vigilante trail. Actually, despite its far-fetched storyline, “The Boondocks Saints” spouts the message that evil flourishes only when good men look the other way. Duffy hammers this theme home in an early scene when the minister recaps the real-life tragedy of Kitty Genovese. In 1964, Genovese was raped and murdered near her home while thirteen eyewitnesses cowered in either fear or indifference to her plight back and did not intervene. Consequently, “The Boondocks Saints” advocates vigilantism. Unfortunately, whatever credibility that Duffy generates for his message is obliterated by those kinetically staged gunfights, rampant profanity, and the melodramatic plot twists.

Basically, “The Boondocks Saints” is a beer & pizza saga that shows some tolerance for homosexuality because one of its chief characters—an erudite FBI agent—is gay but not gay is an over-the-top way. Sadly, this independently produced actioneer got lost in the politics of its day. According to Duffy, the Columbine massacre prompted the distributers to curb release of the film because of its violent fare. The heroes—who perform primarily good deeds—dress in black like the Columbine gunmen and wipe out Russian mobsters galore. Nevertheless, this ranks as first-rate entertainment if you enjoy gritty gunplay, provocative characters, and some surreal staging. People who love cats may not enjoy “The Boondocks Saints” because a cat is accidentally shot and splattered like a tomato against a wall Of course, the actual cat was never harmed, but some cat lovers cannot differentiate between reality and illusion so this film may leave a dire taste in their mouths.

The Cold War has concluded and Russian criminals have migrated to America and the Russian syndicate is buying up property in Boston, much to the chagrin of some leaseholders, like poor old Doc (Gerard Parkes of “Short Circuit 2”) a barkeeper afflicted with Tourette's syndrome who runs McGinty’s Bar. The patrons are celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day when three imposing big bruisers, among them Ivan Checkov (Scott Griffith), walk in to lay down the law and encounter the McManus twins, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery of “The Suicide Kings” ) and Murphy (Norman Reedus of “Deuces Wild”), who precipitate a barroom brawl with them. They tied the biggest Russian to the bar and set his butt on fire. The next day two of the Russians, including burnt butt, barge into their apartment. They handcuff Connor to a toilet and threaten to kill Murphy. Connor rips out the toilet—possible but not likely—and goes to the roof and drops it on the biggest Russian and saves his brother from certain death. FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe of “Platoon”) launches an investigation because he is part of the Organized Crime Task Force. Smecker hooks himself up to his portable CD player, pops on his disposable gloves, and analyzes the crime scene to the strains of classic composer Puccini’s operatic La bohème. Although the chronology of the scene is fractured like a Tarantino bloodbath, Duffy appears to invoke the kind of cross-cutting that worked so well for Hong Kong director John Woo so that we get to see both the crime and the analysis of the crime. Later, when Smecker presents the details of the crime to his colleagues, he is in the same shot with our heroes when they perform their community service.

Our heroes give themselves up and Smecker lets them go and informs the Boston press that they killed the Russians in self-defense. Later, our heroes hear voices and believe that the Lord wants them to destroy evil men. The MacManus brothers receive help from one of their loony friends, David Della 'Roc (David Della 'Roc’ of “Jake’s Corner”), who serves as an errand boy of sorts for the Boston mob. He provides our heroes with all the information that they need to start wiping out mobsters with extreme prejudice. Roc is the crazy one of the bunch and he lacks the focus of the MacManus twins. Meanwhile, Smecker investigates each convoluted crime scene and shows the Boston Police, particularly the three detectives on the case, Dolly (David Ferry), Duffy (Brian Mahoney) and Greenly (Bob Marley), why he is such a genius. By now, our heroes have become ‘saints’ in the newspapers, and they obtain a cache of silenced automatic pistols with which to carry out their work. When they ice top-level hoods, Connor and Murphy utter a prayer while they have their victim on his knees and shoot him through the back of the head so that their bullets exit through the eye sockets. Afterward, they place pennies on the dead man’s eyes. Each execution gets wilder and crazier until the mobsters catch up with them. Meanwhile, Smecker has so underestimated the MacManus brothers that he never imagines what they have been doing until Roc loses a finger during a shoot-out and he connects them with Roc. By this time, the mob has declared war on them.

“The Boondocks Saints” is for action-oriented film fans who know they are only watching a movie. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus are perfectly cast as brothers and they kindle a lot of charisma as vigilantes in the tradition of Charles Bronson from the “Death Wish” movies. Make no mistake, however, Willem Dafoe and David Della 'Roc’ steal the show. Close behind them in his peripheral role is Gerard Parkes who has only a couple of scenes, but he is unforgettable, especially with his use of the F-bomb and the A-word followed in rapid succession. Mind you, “The Boondocks Saints” is not remotely believable, but it is a terrific, entertaining, action-packed opus with colorful character, blue dialogue, and Duffy’s imaginative staging.