Viewed in
2011
Formats
Movie theater
Premise
Teenage hoodlums from the projects of London, aka The Block, take on an alien invasion.
Liked
The premise, the kids, some of the comedy, the creativity.
Disliked
The underwhelming plot.
Thoughts
I think I over-hyped myself for Attack the Block.
There was definitely some creative moments. And it's true that one of Earth's greatest monsters are reckless teenage boys. Watching them running amok with bats, fireworks, bikes, and a samurai sword, taking out malicious aliens was quite fun. (Too bad for the inauspicious timing of the London riots.)
The action sequences were fun mash-ups of parkour, X-Games, hooliganism, MacGyver, and old-school horror. The violence and gore was well done, given its budget, with cool visuals of shadowy beasts that were entirely black, except for their rave-ready canines. I also appreciated some thought into the reason behind the invasion.
I probably missed a bunch of British jokes, despite recently completing a Doctor Who marathon. But I was in better shape than my buddy. There were some funny dialog between the main teenagers, as they traded insults and made pop culture whimsy. I liked the moments with the two preteens trying join their gang, but keep getting rejected, ordered to go home and "watch some Naruto". They could've done more with the absurdity of teenage boys unaware of the significance of their actions, as they dealt with aliens, drug-dealers, and annoying relatives.
The characters were surprisingly well-drawn. The original gang of five was pretty easy to distinguish, and organic, not caricatures. The Nick Frost pot-head, on the other hand, was pretty useless.
Again, maybe I would've laughed more had I been a Brit. But when the film was over, I felt underwhelmed, as if they ran out of ideas out from the promising premise. Or perhaps the premise was not as bad-ass as I thought and was simply in denial.
Overall, it was a bit scary, a bit silly, a bit gory, a bit hilarious, a bit cool, a bit creative, but also a bit disappointing, considering Nick Frost and Edgar Wright were involved.
What I would change
Not sure.
