Every so often, a film comes along that is so much fun that you are willing to forgive and overlook any flaws it might have. Attack the Block is definitely one of them for me. Not your ordinary sci-fi alien invasion film, the film pits aliens against the unlikeliest of foes, a gang of inner-city London hoods. This mix turns out to be pure genius and Joe Cornish, the writer/director, succeeds in making the film both frightful and hilarious.
It starts off with the gang, led by Moses (John Boyega) in the midst of mugging Sam (Jodie Whittaker), a nurse new to London, when a meteor strikes a nearby car. It’s not an ordinary meteor though; it turns out to be an alien which attacks Moses. He decides to go after it and together with his crew – Pest, Dennis, Jerome and Biggz – they easily manage to kill it.
But that’s just the first five minutes.
More aliens start to rain down on London but these are bigger, meaner and not easy to kill. They come after the boys whose only refuge is “The Block,†a low-income London apartment building. At the same time they have to stay ahead of Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter) the local gang leader who is after them for disrespecting his territory.
Sam, our former mugging victim, allies herself with the boys when she realizes that the safest place to be is with a bunch of reasonably armed hoods. Throw in Nick Frost as a pot dealer for good measure and there we have it, a recipe for pure awesome.
This film, simply put, is a hoot and a half. The dialogue, Infused with south London sensibilities and lingo, adds local flavor and is just entertaining to listen to. The pace is rapid and exiting as the kids are constantly running around trying to get away from the aliens with hardly a minute to breathe. The action is accompanied by a brilliant up tempo score which fits the setting like a glove.
The characters are interesting and fun to watch as they exchange witty lines in between and during alien attacks. While they start off as criminals, you grow to like them and by the end you are firmly rooting for them.
One thing which really stood out was the alien creature design. It’s nice that after watching so many sci-fi films and TV series that Cornish manages to come up with something original, simple and terrifying.
Unlike similar American film Super 8, this shows us exactly what you should do if you ever come in contact with some bad elements from outer space. You don’t try to understand their plight and hug them, you bash their heads in with a bat or whatever is handy.
I highly recommend Attack The Block to anyone who is a fan of a simple & fun – soon to be cult – film. Similar to Edgar Wright’s (executive producer) Shaun of the Dead, this is a fantastic debut from a talented original filmmaker and I’m looking forward to seeing more in the future from Joe Cornish.