Attack The Block (2011) [Blu-ray]
Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

From the producers of Shaun of the Dead, Attack The Block is a fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen street gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing project into a sci-fi battleground, the low-income apartment complex into a fortress under siege. And it turns a crazy mix of tough street kids into a team of kick ass heroes. It's inner city versus outer space and it's going to explode.

User Comment: *** This review may contain spoilers *** paulmabey from England, 2 September 2011 • Finally got to see this film after wanting to for ages because I'm a huge Nick Frost fan (although admittedly mainly through Spaced and Shaun of the dead). I would have put money on me loving this film. What wasn't to love for a bloke in his 20's – monsters/aliens, groups with weapons working together (The warriors anyone?!) and of course Nick Frost.

Well, I'll tell you the reason why I hated it – because the characters we were meant to love were essentially scumbags. Being a secondary school teacher it is depressing how often I see and hear teenagers acting hard, wearing hoods and trackies (even if it's 30degrees!, using ridiculous and often rude language and generally lacking basic morals and respect. And now here is a film that not only expects us to identify and go on a journey with these characters but also glorifies them!

My hesitation began in the opening scene when they pulled a knife whilst mugging a woman and seemed to have nothing but contempt for her. I thought to myself 'Hmmm, that's quite extreme as I thought we were going to like these guys?' Now that would have been OK if the story had quickly unfolded that it was just a big front and they were actually quite nice and don't really like hurting people they just do it as they don't know any better, but this wasn't the case. It clumsily seemed to try to swing it this way with some of the characters (the one with glasses seemed particularly easy to like), but most of them continued to be little scrotes if I'm honest.

The way the police were viewed and portrayed I thought was pretty disgraceful and again painted an image that it was cool to hate the police.

Probably the biggest let down was that I suddenly realised near the end of the film that I hadn't actually laughed once. A couple, and I mean a couple, of moments of light relief from Frost was about all I smiled at. I also thought the development of the characters was poor or almost non existent, especially the token weed smoking posh white boy who for me added nothing.

To the films credit I thought it was shot well, the monsters were good (in a budget/cult like way) and most of the acting was good, although it seemed to try far too hard to make them all use the teenage 'buzz' words constantly. Probably why the one liners failed to work IMO. It was bare annoying.

The sad thing is I can see some of the kids I teach watching this and wanting to be just like them. At least the worst thing I'd have been likely to say at their age would have been "I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle"!

Summary: Actually makes me a little angry.

User Comment: *** This review may contain spoilers *** goldwriting from www.theendofthepage.com, 6 August 2011 • Attack the Block at its core is two films in one: an alien attack movie with huge ape-like creatures with no eyes and green glowing teeth, while also a redemption tale for a young gang of hoodlums who become the first and only defenders of Earth, or more importantly their housing project, known as The Block. The aliens descend from the sky without warning, but what they find in the rough and tumble part of South London is not part of their master plan.

There are certain teams in the movie industry you just look for – people who all work together, maybe grew up together, and somehow they always manage to create some really wonderful films when they're all working as one. Judd Apatow has his gang (his wife chief among those), Adam Sandler has his gang (Rob Schneider seemingly holds top cameo in that gang) and, of course, King of the Cult Worship, Kevin Smith (nevermind box office revenues, this dude has an entire posse of creative types on speed dial). Yet, over the last decade or so, one group has knocked it out of the park on virtually every occasion, crossing nearly every genre and making it look nearly effortless (which I am sure it is not). That honor goes to Edgar Wright and the dynamic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Jumping onto the scene stateside with Shaun of the Dead, then following up with Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (which was only Edgar Wright involved there), they piled up an amazing and impressive fan base, much deserved. So my hopes were high for this film with Edgar Wright listed as an Executive Producer and Joe Cornish at the helm (who also had incredibly small roles in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and my expectations were soundly met and beaten.

So many things went right in the making of this movie, but as with every great movie ever made the success of it always begins with an amazingly written script. Coming in at a tight 88 minutes long, the story never felt rushed or over-motivated. The pace is perfect and the sequence of events moves along in balanced time, keeping the believability of the universe intact the entire way. The arrival of the aliens is handled brilliantly basically by not handling it at all. They show up and they're killing people; deal with it. Then the ending, which I will not at all give away here, is so beautifully simple and ingenious that for once I was completely caught off-guard. I found myself turning to my friend and saying, "Holy crap, that actually makes sense! It's an alien flick and that made sense!" So my first kudos here goes to Joe Cornish who not only directed this, but wrote it as well (which IMDb quotes the inspiration coming from his own mugging by a group of young kids).

I could go on now and say all the wonderful directing choices Cornish makes throughout the film, but that would take many hours and I'm writing this late in the evening, so I'll just mention two. Making this movie for an estimated price tag of nine million pounds, this is a low budget flick, but instead of giving into that sensibility and trying to hack bigger and badder special effects, Cornish correctly crafts the story in such a way where he doesn't need elaborate CGI to tell the story. Most of it is set in one building and the creatures have one unique characteristic (the glowing teeth), but are otherwise dudes in suits. Honestly, not once did I ever feel they looked cheap or did they take me out of the moment. Secondly, some particularly well-shot slow motion moments in the latter stages of the film were spot on and made what could have been a rushed and hectic moment into something tension-filled and exciting.

So now you have a great script and a visionary director manning the helm, but you still need a talented cast to bring the whole thing to life and this film shoots the moon. Nick Frost has a charming and welcome side character as the front man for the main drug dealer in The Block, but he really is there to provide a safety net to the humor of the film. The lead ensemble of gang kids and the young woman they mug in the opening scene are exceptional. I honestly was fully prepared to read an article about how these kids were literally ripped right off the streets and put in front of a camera, ala Edward Furlong for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (although he was ripped from a mall arcade, but same difference). John Boyega anchors the cast as Moses, the gang leader, and he delivers such honesty and truth to the part, it's shocking to see this listed as his debut project. While the strength and comedic moments he brings are huge in the film, it's the heart he puts out there, hidden on his sleeve underneath the puffy coat, that's what brings everything together into a meaningful and enjoyable experience for the viewer.

Walking out of the theater, I felt really happy not only that I had seen the movie, but also that I had paid full price for my ticket. These are the ones you want to support. These are the movies we need more of out there and the only way that will happen is by getting butts in the seats in numbers great enough to warrant greenlighting another project from this crew of people. So if it's playing nearby you, I think you know what I'm telling you to do.

Summary: The Kids Are More Than Alright.

[CSW] -3- This movie would have been great if I could have developed a real caring and concern for the group like I did for The Warriors (1979). I also wasn't too happy with the reason for the alien attack but putting that aside I would have been as satisfied if the aliens had won and then gone quietly away. Knowing British slang a bit better would also have been helpful but remember I rated this movie good even with all of my criticisms. It is entertaining to watch and the aliens seemed single minded and vicious enough for the alien invasion sci-fi part. If I could have developed a real caring and concern for the group this would have been a great movie. Leave your sympathy at home and just sit back and enjoy the action.
[V3.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

º º