Attack The Block (2011)

Rated: R

Genre: Horror/Action

Info: Official Website

Directed By: Joe Cornish

Starring: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Nick Frost

Hollywood, take note. This is how you make a movie.

 

Writer/Director Joe Cornish was inspired to make this bad-ass alien flick after being the victim of a mugging, very similar to the one in the beginning of the movie. Attack The Block follows young Moses (John Boyega) and his gang of hoodlums as they attempt to save the world from an alien invasion that almost everyone else seems completely ignorant to. The violent youngsters must face large, gorilla-wolf creatures with fluorescent fangs, while at the same time attempting to avoid the local 5-0. That’s “police” for the layman. What follows next is the most enjoyable 88 minutes of cinema I’ve experienced in a long time.

The gang spends much of the film running from the aliens. Riding their bicycles or motorcycle. Booking it on foot. Jumping from ledge to ledge. Doing whatever they can to survive. Given their toughness, they elect to fight the aliens time and time again, using samurai swords, baseball bats, and best of all, fireworks. This may not seem like the plot for the best movie of 2011, but it really is. The dialogue is excellently written and flawlessly delivered by the entire cast, even the 9 year old thugs who, in one scene, spray an alien with a squirt-gun full of gasoline and set it aflame. The highlight of the movie comes when the gang is holed up in the block, their large and seedy apartment building, including tenant Ron (Nick Frost) who is the boys’ mentor and weed dealer.

Attack The Block is fun, hilarious, thrilling, and action packed. It’s the culmination of the age old adage, “What would my friends and I do if some sort of monsters were attacking the city?” This is as close of a response as you may ever get. The special effects are beautiful, as Director Joe Cornish elected for practical effects over computer animation. The movie’s heroes are quite obscure and very unlikely, making Attack The Block anything but typical. If you have yet to see this movie, you need to move it to the top of your “must watch” list.

5 out of 5 Knocks