Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben are two young American businessmen who go to Russia for an important meeting only to discover that they are ripped off by a guy named Skylar (Joel Kinnaman of THE KILLING TV series). Just when they think things can't get worse, strange lights appear in the sky, which turns out to be an alien invasion by invisible creatures. While people are being disintegrated the guys and two girls they met manage to barricade themselves in a building, where they remain for a week before venturing out into the vacant city. They come across other survivors, including an old Russian guy who has figured out a way to make his apartment invisible to the invaders. There's also a ragtag group of resistance fighters they eventually take refuge with.
They surmise that the aliens have come to Earth to ransack the natural resources when they see rock and metal being sucked out of the ground in these huge plumes that reach into the atmosphere. The survivors intercept a radio message that says there will be a nuclear submarine in the area taking people to safety--but they are surrounded by the invisible creatures and have to somehow make their way past the invaders.
Basically, this follows the formula of a generic zombie movie, only with aliens instead of zombies. It doesn't help that we don't see what the monsters look like until the last twenty-minutes of the movie--and their appearance is underwhelming. THE DARKEST HOUR follows the trend of SKYLINE and BATTLE: LOS ANGELES of having an incomplete story. I have no interest in seeing a sequel to ANY of these films...what a lame movie.