Attack the Block

Starring: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter, Danielle Vitalis, Paige Meade, Nick Frost
Directed by: Joe Cornish
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: When aliens invade a poor neighborhood in London, a teen gang battles back to protect their turf.

Review:

Tim: I really like the original approach Attack the Block takes to the old alien invasion movie. Most alien invasions feature soldiers or governmental officials fighting the alien menace. This movie pits a teenage gang against the aliens. This path hasn't been traveled before, and it makes for an interesting twist to the familiar alien movie. I appreciated that original, fresh approach. However, the movie as a whole needed to be better. It's decent, but it never gets to where it needs to be.

I admit the novelty of seeing economically depressed teens fighting aliens is fun and gives the movie a fresh quality. However, that uniqueness eventually wears off, and we just want to see a good movie. Director Joe Cornish gives us some interesting sequences, but the film is basically teens running away and hiding from aliens, occasionally being cornered and forced to fight. The story is fine, but it felt like it was lacking any real oomph or imagination. I wanted more from the story. We do get decent characters, and some intense moments, but it still felt like the movie was lacking something.

John Boyega does good work in the lead role as Moses. It's fun to be introduced to our protagonist as he's mugging a helpless teen girl. That is an unexpected, off-putting intro, and I liked how the film turned the tables on the type of character we would root for. However, as I find robbing people to be pretty cowardly, it took me a while to warm up to the character. Boyega plays him with almost maddening restraint, but I appreciated the performance. Jodie Whittaker is very good as Sam. When the film started out, I thought her acting was weak and her character pointless. However, she really won me over as the film went on. She gives a strong performance, and I expect we'll see more of her in future films. She has a good quiet yet charismatic presence. The relationship between Moses and Sam is the most interesting dynamic of the film. The rest of the cast is made up of various gang members or other supporting characters. They were fine, but I did start to get a bit annoyed by them. Many exist only for comedic relief, it seemed. It was fun seeing Nick Frost here, although his role wasn't very exciting.

I thought the aliens were depicted in an interesting way. It was a bit of a difficult approach, and I liked that. While not incredibly memorable (besides their glowing mouths, they are pitch black and furry), they did create some intense moments. The movie does a good job of building up to the "why"- why are the aliens here, and why are they chasing Moses? I thought it was one of the more clever explanations for an alien invasion, although I admit there was just a bit of a letdown. It was unique, but also understated- not something we've been conditioned to expect from alien invasion movies.

Attack the Block is a fun, interesting little movie. I liked the unique qualities it brought to the sub-genre. If you can get past the extremely quick dialogue and sometimes difficult to crack London accent, the movie is fun and entertaining. While I didn't really love any aspect of the film, I recognize how difficult it is to make an alien movie that feels fresh and different from the dozens already out there. This movie achieves that, and deserves some credit for doing so.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Shaun of the Dead, District 9