Bullet Points: Attack the Block
Attack the Block is one of the films made in Britain last year that a lot of people are talking about. It has a really fun feel to it even though there is a good amount of blood and death in the movie. I know John Boyega is pretty much getting a bunch of parts now after having starred in this lower budgeted flick but after seeing him here it’s easy to see why. This movie was a fun ride from start to finish and it makes for an excellent viewing for our Foreign Film Friday.
The Gist: A gang of teenagers in South London have to defend their block from invading aliens.
The Cast: New Star Wars guy John Boyega leads his crew of angry teens against a bunch of snarling alien gorilla beasts. Boyega does a pretty good job and you really get behind him as the movie goes on. The flick is a strangely funny, yet gruesome battle as the aliens chase the boys all over their neighborhood, ripping up a few people along the way. The boys end up teaming up with a woman who also lives in the building that none of them had known but they had actually mugged her earlier in the movie so it makes for some fun dialogue between them. Nick Frost plays the blocks cowardly drug dealer in what I would call some of the best casting of the whole movie. Most of the kids who were in the film got the roles from either online casting calls or through their schools which means most of them had little to no experience. It never negatively affects the movie though as I thought they all did a fine job.
Having spent a lot of time around juvenile delinquents I can tell you they do a pretty good job of portraying them.
The Villain: Anytime you’re dealing with an alien invasion movie it’s pretty easy to discern who the villains are: they’re aliens. There’s really nothing much known about the creatures in the film other than what they look like and how they kill people. They do have a pretty sweet look. Think of a much hairier version of a gorilla and give it a shit load of glowing neon teeth. I understand that doesn’t sound very scary but they come off well in the film. The only real discussion was to why they’re in the block is had by a guy who is really, really stoned so who knows if any of that was actually accurate.
The aliens had a unique look when it comes to invasion movies.
The Action: For a movie shot without much budget and mostly done with practical effects I really liked the action. It didn’t feel like too much or like it was too unrealistic. There weren’t any 14 year old kids killing a room full of aliens with a sword. Oh wait, there was that! But it wasn’t done all Kill Bill style or anything so it worked much better for this type of film. I had read quite a bit about this movie after John Boyega was cast in the new Star Wars and I found it to be a very enjoyable movie.
Most of the movie is spent running from them but I guess that makes more sense than if they tried to stand their ground and fight them.
Take it Home:
- Kids these days: Most of these kids need a good spanking from their parents.
- Big time: It’s movies like this that really turn a guy like Boyega into a hot commodity for the big studios. I know he’s already in the new Star Wars but I would expect him to be the British, black Chris Pratt now.
- I dig the look: Nick Frost still has his long hair in this movie from when he shot the other alien comedy Paul.
Rating: 4/5
