I felt this film didn't quite reach its potential, but I still enjoyed it all the same. Being Aussie, I particularly enjoyed the vernacular - it's nice to experience a different set of colloquialisms.
[7.7/10] I had a hard time getting into Attack the Block at first. It’s not that the film wasn’t well made or well acted. It’s that we meet our perspective characters when they’re mugging a poor, frightened woman and roughing her up when she doesn’t turn over her worldly possessions fast enough. It’s a terrifying scene, one that made my blood boil a little bit when it became clear, after the film got going in earnest, that it wanted you to be on the muggers’ side.
The most impressive trick writer-director Joe Cornish pulls off in the film is not the well-crafted script or impressive special effects or the wonderfully-built horror and tension. It’s the fact that by the end of the movie, you are on their side and so is their victim. It doesn’t come easy. But as the film progresses, you learn more and more about why the kids are like this, the choices they have and don’t have, the environments they grow up in and hassles that come with it.
Those things don’t erase what happens in the film’s beginning, but they explain it. Apologies and youth and understanding become enough to sway you of an inner decency in Moses and his crew that, if fostered rather than stamped out, could make a hero out of a mugger.
With that backbone, it’s hard to pin down a genre for Attack the Block. The best way I can describe it is as The Warriors meets Alien meets Kids meets Die Hard meets Night of the Living Dead.
It is a film about the different crews and cohorts operating in and around the titular block. It’s an alien invasion story, with snarling and fearsome monsters lurking around every corner. It is a frank look at the slang and manner of young men and women getting by despite poverty and a lack of supervision. It is a rollicking action film bolstered by the claustrophobia of it taking place largely in one building. And it is a story about people from different walks of life, forced together by circumstance, finding common cause and common ground in desperate times.
Cornish makes all of those disparate elements work by integrating them all together with vivid characters. His script treats each of the residents and visitors of The Block like wind-up toys, spending much of the first act winding them up and then devoting the rest of the movie to their frantic movement around the game board, bumping into one another. Whether it’s a street gang, stoners, nurses, cops, gangsters, nine-year-old wannabes, a group of young women, or even the alien attackers, Cornish and company mix and match the pieces brilliantly, with humor and sparks flying at each new combination.
Those sparks (often aided by exploding fireworks) dovetail nicely with the impressive set pieces, cinematography, and production design. Attack the Block looks remarkably high quality for a film made with a $10 million budget. It’d be too much to say the film feels realistic exactly, but Cornish and director of photography Tom Townend give the movie a washed out, green-graded, Fincher-esque look that exudes a certain lived-in realism even within the plainly heightened reality of an alien invasion flick.
That’s aided by the look of the creatures themselves. The alien, hulking black masses of fur with multiple layers of glow-in-the-dark teeth, are the perfect antagonists from a visual standpoint. They allow the film to take the Jaws approach, leaving more of the terror to suggestion and expectation, then having to show the beasts full-on. The editing matches that, with us rarely getting a clean look at the monsters, just their bright gaping maws, reading to snap and bite.
It’s no surprise, then, how well Attack the Block works as a horror movie. The kills are doled out judiciously, and the threat level escalates accordingly. Those threats come from both the extraterrestrial pursuers and the ones native to The Block, each emerging to torment our heroes at inopportune and unexpected times, and even running into one another. Through all of these sequences, whether they’re frantic chases, smoke-filled brawls, or daring final stands, Cornish and his team shoot for maximum suspense and heart-pumping investment in everyone’s fate.
The movie also gets some extra juice from being something different than the standard alien invasion movie. Beyond just the clever explanation for the extraterrestrials’ pursuit of the main characters, the focus on a localized, poorer, urban setting distinguishes the film from the globe-dotting, worldwide fare like Independence Day. That gives Attack the Block a more intimate feel, making the menace seem realer and giving the film more space to explore the particulars and real world specifics of that space and those that inhabit it.
That ties nicely into Moses’s story and the broader metaphor the adventures of him and Sam, the woman he mugged, represent here. There’s the sense of Moses at a precipice, trying to decide between rising above petty crime into the hardcore drug world or follow his better angels and become the better person that can save the day (and, not for nothing, earn the approval of his crush). John Boyega, in his film debut, plays the role with a low-burning intensity, that conveys an inner life to the otherwise stoic character.
That is, ultimately, the broader project of the film beyond its alien-infused horror and humor. The audience, like Sam, slowly but surely comes to know of that inner life, and the more complicated and pitiable treatment and circumstances that have made Moses into the person he is and the person he could be. There’s plenty of less-than-subtle critiques of the police and the government who contribute to The Block being the way it is, giving its residents a sense of being under attack long before alien monsters arrived. But they find purchase in an unlikely hero, made all the more unlikely by the way in which Sam and the viewer meet him and, over the course of the film, gradually but firmly come to understand and root for him.
This movie walks the line between "action for late teens" and "cheap blood/gore-themed horror", and it does not do a great job at achieving either. The poor acting actually improves the movie, but my biggest gripe is that it just fails to draw interest, both in terms of characters and plot.
It's definitely not a bad movie by any means, but it's not a good movie either. Horror and teen action fans might find this more enjoyable, while anyone who dislikes either of those genres should give this a pass.
As a youngster who grew up in East London, I loved this film so much as a kid as it captures how it feels to live in the run-down area's of London but also how misunderstood some of the kids are from these areas. Attack the Block starts off in such a way that you hate the main gang of boys but by the end, you understand their characters and even start to love some of the characters.
I have to say this is due to the batsh*t crazy plot of this film which starts off as your regular gang film and turns into Aliens but in a tower block in London, sounds like a stupid plot but it is so genius as it gets you behind characters that you usually wouldn't want too. If this sounds like the plot of a film you'll love then please watch it.
Does not surprise me Joe Cornish has become a very reputable filmmaker after this film as the screenplay and direction are superb. Also doesn't surprise me that John Boyega (Moses) started to get bigger and bigger after this, but the entire cast deserves a round of applause.
For some reason, I didn't enjoy Attack the Block as much as I thought It deserved when I heard about it. The characters were flat and uninteresting, and the plot never grabbed a hold on me. Besides...when a movie tries this hard to have funny moments and then fails miserably at it, it annoys me to no end. The fact that they set up the youth criminals as the heroes kinda irked me as well...
I can't in good conscience recommend this, but I suspect I'm the weird one with this one as it gets rave reviews all over.
was way better then I expected to be honest =) Not cheesy, straight to the point and simple.
I agree with Fatalmuzza regarding the protagonists; they are painted as villians to begin with and it's a hard grind to try and change that perception once the film kicks into gear. They are villians, we shouldn't like them. It's a morality play that has been done a hundred times, and to their credit they hold Moses' (a controlled John Boyega) hard exterior for all but a few moments. It's not until the final shot it slips and I thought "Geezer" :)
Having grown up in E/SE London "The Block" is still a strangly familiar setting after many years (the more things change, the more they stay the same). "Probs" and "Mayhem" remind me of my mates little brothers which left me torn between wanting them to have an epic moment and getting eaten.
Jodie Whittaker (who was great in "Venus" with Peter o'Toole) is cute and kind of has a Jewel Staite (Firefly) look about her at times.
Attack the Block had been a strong recommendation, it wasn't quite what I expected, but I enjoyed the ride.
Film 54 (Goal: 300) of 2024
Maybe I'm overdoing it and fatigue is kicking in, maybe I was in a mood but I just couldn't get into this from the get go. I failed to care about the group, the setting of the film, the dialogue and the colloquiums. I also found the direction choices took me out of the film. I initially disliked the appearance of the alien, but the subsequent creatures have a fantastic look, with the teeth being distinct. There are some moments where the director doesn't hold back on the gore, and this is where Attack the Block succeeds. Unfortunately its few and far between.
"Attack the Block" managed to captivate even a viewer like me, not typically drawn to sci-fi films. The film's standout feature is the fantastic chemistry among the cast, led by the talented John Boyega. Their authenticity brings humor and relatability to a plot that could have been generic.
What sets this film apart is its clever use of camera angles and reliance on practical visual effects. In a refreshing departure from CGI-heavy productions, "Attack the Block" crafts intimidating monsters through practical effects, proving that a film can be suspenseful without an abundance of computer-generated imagery.
While not my usual cup of tea, the film's unique blend of humor, social commentary, and genuine character development, coupled with impressive practical effects, make "Attack the Block" a commendable entry in the sci-fi genre. It stands as a testament to the creativity of its filmmakers and the power of a well-assembled cast.
Quite impressive technically. The electronic score is honestly fantastic and the cinematography is also well above average. The acting’s pretty good, but it’s really the dialogue that gives the film a lot of its unique, comedic flavour. The story and concept have, of course, been done to death at this point, and I don’t think this movie quite finds a memorable way of presenting it. There aren’t a lot of scenes or moments that are going to stick with me. I also think the characters are poorly defined, which is probably the biggest thing that kept me from getting involved emotionally. Funny enough, those are the same issues I have with most of the films that have influenced this (John Carpenter and Walter Hill films), so it’s unfortunate to see this fall into the same traps.
5.5/10
I was expecting another cheesy alien movie with bad special effects and even worse acting and am glad I stand corrected. Easy to watch,leaves you torn between condemning the gang or feeling sympathetic to them and the aliens weren’t too bad either.I’d give a solid 6 for my first watch and who knows I may revisit it in the future...but then again I’m still not a fan of alien movies
"That's an alien bruv, believe it."
Man, what a refreshing adventure/sci-fi film. Just a couple of kids fighting back against some really cool-looking aliens. Good action, witty banter, funny moments and well executed. Boyega and Whittaker are standouts for sure.
Simple concept, didn't overcomplicate things. Believable and fleshed out characters with amazing work from Jodie and John. Overall not the best movie in its genre I've ever seen, but worth a watch.
My one issue with this film is that it is too short and also it is a very basic premise, otherwise this film is some really amazing British film making. Having grown up on a tower block in London, I can say that the depiction of the kids in this film is very accurate as they are just kids trying to be adults and what I love about this film is the moment the alien invasion starts, all of the characters start to show their true colours.
The premise is super simple, group of youths mug a lady at the start and then have to help / team up with the lady to get through the night and take down these aliens which have chosen to invade a small area in South London. But the simplicity is the reason this film is super rewatchable, the direction in this film from Joe Cornish is great and I would love to see him work on more Star Wars films or bigger budget sci-fi films.
Also, everyone acts their parts really well with John Boyega (Moses) and Jumayn Hunter (Hi-Hatz) absolutely stealing the show. I also think that the way the film can go from a serious moment to a really funny moment is so great. If you have teenage kids then I recommend watching this film with them and I am sure you will all have fun with it, just don't take it too seriously.
An amazing movie with some of the best creature design I've ever seen. Attack the Block is a sort of London hoodlum version of Goonies. Only instead of innocent children going for X marks the spot treasure. These are kids no one cares about except their own. And they face off against an alien threat. It's easy to assume based on descriptions that these characters aren't likeable because the first act of the movie is the gang robbing a nurse of her stuff (including her wedding band) on her way home from work. A home that she will turn out to share with these kids. But the movie is more than that one scene. The characters are fleshed out. Their actions in that moment while never justified are explained. When the world hates you and yours you develope an us vs them mentality and that turns out to play a strong role in what happened in that very short opening scene. But there's so much more to the movie to love. A character literally named Moses who has to lead his crew to victory first to the promised land of a step up the gangster heirarchy ladder and then to the fighting back against the alien menace. A menace that is very real and very realized in this film. Good kids don't make it and bad kids do. Even with the help of the nurse they don't have the easiest time. But the movie is a triumph of character that while primarily a sci-fi action set-piece has scenes of comedy that are some of the most emotional in the whole film. A must watch film. The lead character is so captivating I couldn't to see him in something else. A few year later I would get my wish.
Can't see where the good ratings are coming from !!
Fun, nostalgic and chock full of smart movie references.
enough this film..... loved every minute
Entertaining and tightly paced, this is only let down by some weak acting in places. Give the inexperience of the cast, this is to be expected and it is never severe enough to spoil the film. The lead is also very strong here. Some clever editing and darkness helps to mask the low budget, and there are some great tense moments and scares.
Am I supposed to sympathize with these disgusting main characters?
Don't waste your time with this shit.
Don't expect much, but it's a perfect movie to spend 80 minutes in a afternoon if you have nothing better to do.
totally overrated,, couldn't quite enjoy this film, good special fx, but weak characters and absolutely no plot :(
This film has just bumped 28 Days Later to #2 in my favourite English films of all time SEQUEL PLEASE!!!!!!!!
A reasonable movie, but the protagonists were totally unlikable to me. Some entertainment ot be had here, but don't make it a priority.
Above my expectation, absolutely loved it
Better than i expected it to be. Not great but still a good movie to watch.
To be honest I thought about watching another trash movie which I will quit during the first halftime... But the movie was quite enjoyable.
The effects are enjoyable and fun to watch. Of course it is no masterpiece in things of acting or story (do we really need a story for this setup?) but it had its moments and definitely made a nice watch.
Shout by KDobVIP 9BlockedParent2014-12-19T05:10:47Z
Thought it was a solid movie. Didn't bite off more than it could chew, rational characters (based on the fact that they're teenagers!), didn't oversaturate with unecessary character development, and honestly believable... which is a feat for a movie with furry gorilla monsters with no eyes and glowing blue teeth.