Attack the Block Review
Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 09.12.2011
For people who like their horror movies inventive and fresh
Directed by Joe Cornish
Written by Joe Cornish
Cinematography by Thomas Townend
Music Composed by Steven Price
Cast
Nick Frost ... Ron
Jodie Whittaker ... Sam
John Boyega ... Moses
Luke Treadaway ... Brewis
Terry Notary ... The Creature
Alex Esmail ... Pest
Paige Meade ... Dimples
Leeon Jones ... Jerome
Jumayn Hunter ... Hi-Hatz
Franz Drameh ... Dennis
Danielle Vitalis ... Tia
Simon Howard ... Biggz
Sammy Williams ... Probs
Michael Ajao ... Mayhem
Runtime: 88 min
MPAA: Rated R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language Official Website
When people talk about cult horror movies, Attack the Block is the exact movie that comes to mind. Joe Cornish directs this movie with monsters, street thugs and gangsters and infuses it with a sense of excitement and invention that brings back memories of early Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson. The big difference here is that Cornish accomplishes this with a decent budget and creates a movie that is not only one of the most exciting cult movies of the year but one of the best looking.
Attack the Block starts with a group of street hoodies in London who attack and mug a young nurse walking home one evening. During the robbery, something crashes into a car on the side of the street and the woman escapes. The lead hoodie, Moses, crawls into the destroyed car’s side window to steal whatever valuables are there and is attacked by a creature, an alien that crashed to Earth from outer space. The creature flees, the hoodies chase it down, blast it with fireworks and then beat it to death.
That turns out to be the worst mistakes of their lives. Soon, dozens of large creatures with green glowing razor sharp teeth crash into London with the hoodies as their main target.
So, what makes this a great cult film? Well, first of all, the monsters are awesome. There was not a lot of money in the budget and Cornish did what might be the best thing to do in this case. He made his monsters completely black and supplied them with glowing green teeth. At first, the teeth appeared to be eyes but these monsters have no eyes, only teeth and possible a nose under the matted fur. It was a very creative decision and was results is one of the most effective monsters seen in a movie in a long time.
The original monster the hoodies beat to death was different, a smaller creature that looked like a rubber puppet. However, it also fits the style of the movie and tricks viewers into believing they were getting a silly, rubber monster movie. When the new creatures arrive, the movie kicks into high gear and, somehow, the monsters are actually pretty scary. The monsters are a mix between gorillas, warthogs and God only knows what else. And they can squash a person’s head like a grape.
If it was just the monsters that made the movie great, that would be fine but this movie has a lot more than that. For one, the acting is really solid and Cornish presents us with a group of heroes that are sympathetic despite the fact they are hoodies. Moses leads the group and is played by John Boyega. In the movie, he is a 15-year-old living the life of someone much older. He leads a small group of friends who first appear as thugs but turn out to be family. Boyega is the spoke that makes the wheels of this movie turn because, if he can’t realistically make his character transition from villain to hero, the movie will fail. Boyega succeeds and turns in one of the best debut performances I have seen in a long time.
He is joined by a solid group of actors portraying his friends. These friends are all character archetypes but that never hurts the movie. Pest (Alex Esmail) is the funny white guy, Biggz (Simon Howard) is the neurotic kid, Dennis (Franz Drameh) is the jerk, Jerome (Leeon Jones) is the kid with glasses and Moses is the leader. In a contrived twist that works, they end up teaming with the girl they mugged, Sam (Jodie Whittaker). Add in the awesome talent of Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as drug dealer Ron and a gangster played by Jumayn Hunter (Eden Lake) and you have a young, top notch cast that makes you actually care about the characters.
When the hoodies are together, they share a unique dialogue similar to the dialect you hear in movies like A Clockwork Orange. Their insults, terms of endearment and general slang takes a little while to get used to but when, things get crazy, it is easy to follow their conversations. The humor and wit of the script also adds to the movie and makes the intense horror scenes work even better.
This is Joe Cornish’s first film as a director. Fans will see more of his writing work when Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackons’s Tintin movies come out but this directorial debut was very assured and a quality start for the British director’s career. The movie bears a similarity to Edgar Wright’s work, taking a tired genre in the alien invasion movies and infusing it with something fresh and new. His camerawork is excellent, presenting a striking view of the Block, the apartment building in which everyone in the film who matters lives.
Cornish keeps the creatures at a distance, often letting their glowing teeth mark their arrival. He also keeps them in the shadows to increase the fear factor while remaining within the budget while never appearing silly. Cornish works hard to never allow his movie to slip into something worthy of ridicule. There are action packed chase scenes and the movie has some truly horrific bloody moments where no one is safe from dying, regardless of their importance to the story. Finally, the movie keeps the scares coming but never has to cheat with jump scares. This movie makes the entire location of the Block come alive and presents danger at every level.
The 411: First of all, this is not a movie for everyone. There are a lot of people out there who only like generic, cookie cutter horror movies and they will probably not see the brilliance of this effort. However, for people who like unique, inventive horror movies and want to see a new take on the tired alien invasion genre, this one is for you. Attack the Block has instant classic written all over it and I recommend it to people who enjoy creative, fun movies. The movie is still in the middle of its expanding release. Give it a chance.
Why does everyone praise this movie that much?
It was good, but nothing more.
I hated the characters and wanted them to be killed off by the monsters. Thugs that rob women cannot bring sympathy to themselves, no matter kids or not.
When you got no one to root for, the supposedly heroic actions and dialogue later is just funny, not serious.
The "brit streetspeak" really got on my nerves, but I guess that's just me.
Nick Frost was out of place in the whole thing, like "Here is Nick Frost, the one recognizable name we could get!"
7/10 at most.
Posted By: Nastee (Guest) on September 12, 2011 at 05:15 AM
I love it when a writer justifies their own review before anyone even gets a chance to read it with the "if you don't like it, you don't get it" tag. And yes, your "alot of people only like" argument does fall into this category.
Posted By: Guest#6996 (Guest) on September 12, 2011 at 09:58 AM
"Thugs that rob women cannot bring sympathy to themselves, no matter kids or not."
oh, don't be so tiresome. Movie history is full of morally questionable characters who the audience nevertheless gets behind. And it's made quite clear by the film that these aren't kids who are regularly out mugging people.
Anyway. I wouldn't go as high as 9 either. Entertaining, but hardly a masterpiece. 7.5, perhaps.
Posted By: Guest#9544 (Guest) on September 12, 2011 at 10:53 AM
"First of all, this is not a movie for everyone. There are a lot of people out there who only like generic, cookie cutter horror movies and they will probably not see the brilliance of this effort."
That's one of the most condescending and arrogant things I've ever seen you write, Shawn. And that's saying something. Because basically what you're saying is, "If you don't like this movie, you're either not smart enough to like it or you don't have taste." If you like a movie, give it an honest assessment and let that assessment stand on its own. Don't feel the need to pre-emptively defend your opinion. It makes you seem enormously insecure...which you probably are, looking over the evidence contained within your writing.
Posted By: Guest#4307 (Guest) on September 12, 2011 at 02:51 PM
Just to clarify, I never said that anyone who doesn't like this movie has bad taste. There are plenty of people who may hate this movie but still like the classic horror films of Sam Raimi and Stuart Gordon.
Who I was talking to are the "people out there who only like generic, cookie cutter horror movies" that "will probably not see the brilliance of this effort."
If you fit that description, feel free to be offended. If you don't fit that description, don't act offended for other people. If you do act offended, I can only assume you are the cookie-cutter kind of fan.
Posted By: Shawn S Lealos (Registered) on September 13, 2011 at 12:24 AM
If you fit that description, feel free to be offended. If you don't fit that description, don't act offended for other people. If you do act offended, I can only assume you are the cookie-cutter kind of fan.
Hell fucking yes to this. I can't stand people who act offended for other people's sake. if it doesn't offend you directly shut the hell up. while this may seem like a stretch this mentality is a major reason why special interest groups have our country by the balls. Its because people like this who aren't even directly offended jump to chime in with the few crazy people who are. Mind your own fucking business!
Posted By: stronelis (Guest) on September 13, 2011 at 04:53 PM
I saw this when it was released in the UK months back and even then thought it was over-rated.
As someone above said, it's hard to root for a bunch of chavvy little twats who are first introduced mugging a woman.
I really thought this film had more potential, but it just blew it, the fact I was hoping the aliens would kill all the little fuckers was the only thing keeping my interest.
And if I never hear another person refer to someone else as "bruv" or "blood" it'll be too soon.
My personal rating for this film would have been 3/10 at most
Posted By: Gorsty (Guest) on September 17, 2011 at 08:48 AM
This movie had me until they tried to explain the aliens.
Fail.
Posted By: Guest#8191 (Guest) on September 19, 2011 at 01:25 AM
Saw this film a few days ago loved it wouldnt give it a 9 but a Solid 7. Its up there with the Troll Hunter as one of my fav. horror movies of 2011.
Posted By: Spike (Guest) on September 19, 2011 at 03:18 AM
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