It’s amazing how every once in a while a movie will come out of nowhere and just blow people away. This year’s surprise hit will be Attack the Block, and that is a guaranteed fact. The only thing that will hinder director/writer Joe Cornish’s extremely fun and badass film from doing well is if there isn’t enough fan support to justify the distribution.
Attack the Block is a pitch perfect genre film that combines the comic brilliance of a great campy film like The Goonies with the toughness and wit of a British fighting film like Green Street Hooligans. The best way I can describe this movie is by saying it’s what you get when The Warriors meets The Goonies in Independence Day, or any alien invasion flick for that matter. It’s a hysterical sci-fi film that clearly borrows from the classics but, because of Cornish’s brilliant comedic timing, transforms this film into a fun little ride based in one specific inner city block where crime amongst the children run rampant.
The film opens up with a group of teenage misfits, led by the 15 year old Moses (John Boyega), as they mug an innocent overworked nurse named Sam (Jodie Whittaker–Perrier’s Bounty) who, unknowingly, happens to live in the same block as them. Immediately following her mugging, a massive rock crashes into a car and it ends up turning out to be a little alien. After being cut, Moses decides to chase down the beast and kill it. Skip ahead and more aliens start to crash into the areas surrounding the block. The boys decide to challenge the aliens except this time they are much bigger and a lot scarier. With the police hunting them down, and now the black wolf-like aliens with glowing blue teeth hunting them down too, the boys and Sam must find a way to protect each other and defend their block.
Now despite how tough all these guys are, they still showed that they are human and did expose their emotional side. Because they were kids it was easy to watch the layers being pulled back as they became more comfortable the other characters they interacted with. The funniest part about this was when one of the loudmouth kids started to hit on Nurse Sam like a pro, despite the fact that she clearly had about 15 years on him.
With very comical supporting performances from Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz), Luke Treadaway (Clash of the Titans), and Jumayn Hunter (Cherry Tree Lane), who play potheads and dealers, you won’t find yourself short of laughs. As for the rest of the cast, which was made up by almost all kids and most of which were making their feature film debut, they surprisingly nailed their roles perfectly. It was impressive to watch how much chemistry existed between all of them, it’s like they were all “brothers” before the film even started, which definitely improved the authenticity of the film.
It was clear from the get go that Cornish had a great idea on his hands but I’m sure for his feature debut he didn’t think it would turn out anywhere near as good as it did. Attack the Block is going to fit in very nicely amongst the massive blockbusters of this summer, but only if people all over the country demand it from Sony’s Screen Gems. I believe this film can be enjoyed by both men and women alike, it easily crosses the gender barrier and, to be honest, I think it would be a perfect date movie. You’ll get your laughs, you’ll get your scares, and you will leave on such a high that you won’t want to end your night on that note. “Believe!”
Rating: A pitch perfect, comical, and brilliant genre film about gangster teenage Brits fighting Aliens (9/10)
If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, click here
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