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Reel World Reality A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR2012.032  (2011), PG-13 [Hard R-13*] (82.75min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1300 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Production (US): Summit Entertainment, Regency Enterprises: A Jacobson Company/Bazelevs/New Regency Production Distribution (US): Summit Entertainment Director(s): Chris Gorak Producer(s): Iva Stromilove, Lulu Zezza, Arnon Milchan, Hutch Parker, Bo Harper, Monnie Wills, Tom Jacobson, Timur Bekmambetov Story by: Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern, Jon Spaihts Screenplay by: Jon Spaihts Cinematography/Camera: Scott Kevan Music: Tyler Bates Film Editing: Priscilla Nedd Frindly, Fernando Villena Casting: Mary Vernieu, Venus Kanani Production Design: Valeri Viktorov Art Direction: Ricky Eyres Viewed on Summit Entertainment DVD A group of two men and two women do battle against all odds to survive an invasion by invisible aliens seeking to pillage our planet of the electricity-conducting metals we have in abundance. This is a relatively well made and engrossing film of courage and sacrifice ... and profanity ... and violence ... and drinking ... and ... Enough of them to earn the film content a hard R-equivalence. The story begins with Ben (Max Minghella) and Sean (Emile Hirsch) travelling to Moscow to sell Ben's innovative GlobeTrot software invention promising to make millions overnight. But upon arrival at a proposal meeting the boys find that an associate named Skyler (Joel Kinnaman) had stolen Ben's invention. In their bar-time sorrows Ben and Sean meet two travelling American girls, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachel Taylor) whom the boys noticed were featured on Ben's cell phone as two of 56 Moscow arrivals. By chance the girls end up at the same bar as Ben and Sean. While at the bar and after the obligatory display of drinking the electric power goes out all over the city. Soon the quartet find that aliens are descending on the city, indeed all over the world. Not long after discovering the aliens it is also discovered that the aliens are hostile and can disintegrate humans into dust with a projected tentacle of energy. To escape the aliens the quartet, which has by now picked up Skyler in the melee, hide in a storage room. This happens on Saturday. By Tuesday the group cannot sit in storage any longer and venture out to try to find a way home. If home still exists. The Darkest Hour is a cussfest for teens ... 47 uses of profanity of some form or another - including the most foul of the foul words -- in 82.75 minutes of programming, which averages to about 0.6 cusses per minute. Two four-letter words apparently were the most popular of the writers. Seventy-seven percent of the 47 uses of profanity is these two words. Maybe our teens hear such language everyday at school. Why do you suppose they talk that way with films like this one saturating their lives with profanity? Of the six CAP content investigation areas (W, I, S, D, O, M), each with a starting 100 points, the content found by the Sexual Immorality (S) and Murder/Suicide (M) investigation areas earned 19 out of 100 each. These two scores of 19 out of 100 are the highest scores earned over the six investigation areas. The other four CAP content investigation areas found content to earn lesser scores: W - zero, I - zero, D - 7, and O - zero. To give perspective to the area scores, films rated R in the comparative baseline database earned scores of 54 and below out of 100. In a nutshell, every content investigation area, each discovering content to earn an area score of below 54, found content vile enough to earn R-equivalence. With a final score of eight out of 100 this film is a hard R-13! Of the 706 PG-13 films we have analyzed only two earned a lower final score. While there are some rather clever and maybe innovative cinematic devices used in this film, the mining techniques used by the aliens in this film looked strangely like the mining techniques used by the Romulans in Star Trek: The Future Begins (2009). And the disintegration of humans into dust seems a great deal like the human disintegrations in War of the Worlds (2005). Following are brief discussions of the content per individual content investigation area. As always the Findings section of this report, the heart of the CAP Analysis Model, is the best source for discovering the full accounting of the content of this film. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 This film is heavy in violence, mostly in the form of alien attack action violence and pursuit terror. Some of the episodes of alien attack and pursuit are rather intense. Additional matters of violence and/or crime include theft of intellectual property, in-flight peril and gunfire to kill aliens. There is more. Please look to the listing in the Findings section for a complete accounting of the violence/crime content. Many times in both the Old Testament and the New Testament God admonishes us against violence. One verse in particular that puts the topic into perspective well is Proverb 16:29 where God warns that violence can lead one "into the way that is not good." Oddly enough several hundred years after God "published His findings" about the influence of violence, man published his findings by four professional public health agencies warning that violence in and as entertainment can, among other things, lead the observer, especially the young, into real life violence and into believing violence is an effective way to settle conflict. But do we listen? Or care? Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Forty-seven timers someone utters some form of profanity, including the most foul of the foul words. Plus a number of uses of crude slang. All in 82.75 minutes. [Col. 3:8, Eph. 5:4] Additional matters of the display of impudence and/or hatred include cowardice to save one's life at the expense of another's life [Rev. 21:8}, animated argumentation and a lie [also Rev. 21:8]. Sexual Immorality (S) - 19 out of 100 Refreshingly for a PG-13, no one gets in bed with anyone. There is some talk (innuendo) about it but no demonstrations of sex. And there is no nudity. Content that applies to this investigation area included planning sexual conquest, dressing to maximize the female form and/or skin exposure repeatedly, talk of having sex with a man's mother, an adult woman in her underwear seen by a man and the woman enjoying it and a couple additional matters of sexually immoral caliber noted in the Findings section. [Also Eph. 5:4] Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 7 out of 100 The MPAA approved this film for teenagers so you can expect it to have booze and drinking in it. It does. That, in and of itself, makes this film a danger according to the American College of Physicians (ACO) which revealed in 2002 that adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment undeniably leads to abuse of alcohol among underage viewers. The report entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% of the youths were under fourteen years old) only 16% were completely restricted in their entertainment diets. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was There is nothing to say that viewing smoking in and as entertainment does not carry the same danger of influence as viewing drinking. Actually, the same matter of behavior modification applies to any behavior demonstrated in and as entertainment, including good behavior. Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 God's name in used in vain 21 times, three of them with the four letter expletive. [Deut. 5:11] That is all the content in this film that applicable to this investigation area (no witchcraft, sorcery, Satanism, etc) but that is more than enough abuse of God's name to make the content revealed by this investigation area equivalent to the same content in many R-rated films. Murder/Suicide (M) - 19 out of 100 All the murders portrayed were murders of humans by aliens. All of them were somewhat graphic in that the computer-generated imagery is more realistic than ever before. The viewer sees live bodies being disintegrated into dust and ash from the feet up slowly enough to see the expressions of horror by the characters being disintegrated. At least 10 characters are murdered in this fashion. SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE --> Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts. Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume the acts of violence are acceptable behavior. --> Viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization towards violence in real life. It can decease the likelihood that one will take action on behalf of a victim when violence occurs. --> Entertainment violence feeds a perception that the world is a violent and mean place. Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, with a resultant increase in self-protective behavior and a mistrust of others. --> Viewing violence may lead to real life violence. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed. Further, God speaks darkly of violence 56 times in the Old and New Testament of the KJV.] As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
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(The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)   Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 19 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 7 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 19 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
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| For G rated Films with G equivalence: G PG equivalence: PG-G PG-13 equivalence: 13-G R equivalence: R-G< | For PG rated Films with G equivalence: G-PG PG equivalence: PG PG-13 equivalence: 13-PG R equivalence: R-PG | For PG-13 rated Films with G equivalence: G-13 PG equivalence: PG(13) PG-13 equivalence: PG-13 R equivalence: R-13 | For R rated Films with G equivalence: G-R PG equivalence: PG-R PG-13 equivalence: 13-R R equivalence: R | For NR rated Films with G equivalence: G-NR PG equivalence: PG-NR PG-13 equivalence: 13-NR R equivalence: R-NR |
