ATTACK THE BLOCK (18)
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Science Fiction
Release Date: 23 June 2011
Running Time: 88 minutes
Distributor: Platinum Pictures, Sony Screen Gems
Director: Joe Cornish
Screenplay: Joe Cornish
Starring: John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon James, Simon Howard, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, Nick Frost
Plot: A group of London teens find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion, and fight to defend their tower block from some evil extraterrestrials in this stylish sci-fi flick from the producers of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". Chased by a gang of young thugs as she passes through a South London housing estate on her way home, Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is in the midst of being robbed when a rampaging alien falls down from the stars and attacks. Later, as the police assist Sam in pursuing her assailants, strange lights start to rain down on the streets, heralding the arrival of a second, more ferocious wave of creatures. With the city under siege, there's no place left to run. Quickly realizing she's going to have to fight if she wants to survive, Sam tracks down the street tough teens that were in the midst of mugging her when the invasion began, and plans to battle alongside them to the bitter end.
Review: Again it is all about aliens. Does anybody keep track or a list on the alien-themed movies that has been released this year? If you have been living in the pineapple house under the sea, you will acknowledge that 2011 is the year when aliens of various forms arrive on earth. Once, there were water-sucking type (Battle Los Angeles), pretty friendly one (Paul) and soulfully made of alloys (Transformers: Dark of the Moon). Attack The Block is falls into the category of been another alien-invasion movies of the year that pokes fun and bubbles of the popular subculture. Yet, it is not only portraying the aliens as being the usual bad-invading nasty creature; but their arrival on earth is welcomed by a bunch of British rowdy teenagers who are equally - bad too.
In Lambeth, nurse Sam is mugged by a gang of teenagers: Pest, Dennis, Jerome, Biggz and leader Moses. However, something crashes from the sky into a nearby parked car. Sam uses the confusion to run away. Moses tells the gang to "allow it"; instead he wants to see if there is anything to steal from the car. When he approaches it he is attacked and wounded on his face by a creature, which he kills with the help of the others. Realising that it is something rare, they hope to gain a profit from it and go to drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) for advice. Dennis checks the wallet, sees that it belongs to a nurse, and says he feels sorry for her, as a nurse only has a modest income; the others laugh.
Ron and Brewis, a young zoologist who had come to buy marijuana, agree that it is a strange creature. Moses asks the owner of the flat, and Ron's boss, gangster Hi-Hatz, if they can keep it in the "weed room", as it is the safest place in the block. He agrees, if Moses, who sells weed for him, starts selling cocaine too, which Moses accepts. More creatures come down, and the boys each go to their home to collect machetes, softball bats, swords, switchblades and fireworks. Their parents are not told anything. Dennis is told by his father to take the dog. Two young kids, calling themselves Probs and Mayhem, also go to the crash site, eager to prove how tough they are.
I don't really get the fact that it is hailed as one of the best movie of the year. Conceptually yes but the execution is not so much. It is a fun affair to witness how a group of teenagers who goes around the neighborhood doing what gangsters do best while in unusual night received a calling of destiny to fend off the 'invading' critter-like aliens. That's conceptually cool because one could be the eyes, viewing from the point of view of the gangsters to fight off the creatures in a ghetto style. Attack The Block lays a simple straight-forward plot movement!
3.5/5.0
Tags:
Movie Archives 2011