A Calling Card Movie to be sure, but a strong one. This is to say that the primary intent of the Edgar Wright shepherded no-budgeter ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) was to jumpstart a Hollywood career for its debuting writer-director Joe Cornish (in which endeavor it has yet to fully succeed), yet the resulting film can be enjoyed by viewers who aren’t studio executives or talent agents. It’s also noteworthy for introducing us to THE FORCE AWAKENS’s John Boyega and DR. WHO’s Jodie Whittaker, and for featuring Wright regular Nick Frost in a small role.
ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) Trailer
As with seemingly every early-2010s Hollywood release, it’s an alien invasion pic—and a much better one, I’d wager, than SKYLINE (2010), BATTLE: LOS ANGELES or COWBOYS AND ALIENS (both 2011), in whose bloated shadows ATTACK THE BLOCK’s low budget minimalism seems a refreshing change of pace. TTACK THE BLOCK is no more intelligent or complex than the abovementioned films, but it bests them in one crucial area: the aliens themselves. n this film the invading creatures are wisely kept simple and largely indistinct, being dark, hairy beasties with horrific glowing fangs.
Said aliens crash to Earth on the night of Guy Fawkes Day during a South London fireworks display (so nobody notices the falling spacecraft amid all the explosions). The creatures’ first encounter with humans is via a gang of teenage miscreants who’ve just mugged Samantha (Whittaker), a young nurse. The miscreants, led by the smarter-than-he-looks Moses (Boyega), kill an alien in the ensuing confrontation, which puts the critters’ fellow invaders on alert. From there the teens and the victimized nurse uneasily band together to fight the invasion, which happens to be centered in the apartment building where they all live.
Simple and straightforward appear to have been Cornish’s guiding mantras. None of the characters are developed any more than is necessary, and the narrative is lean and uncluttered—indeed perhaps a bit too much so. The proceedings are so relentlessly fast moving and action oriented it took me some time to fully engage with the film, while the cockney accents and culturally specific slang are further detriments to non-English viewers. Still, as a no-nonsense alien scare movie ATTACK THE BLOCK more than delivers.
One more thing: during this film’s initial release numerous complaints were lodged about its miscreant “heroes,” who according to one reader of this review’s initial form (on the late terrorflicks.com) were “best suited to be killed by Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH.” I agree that having violent muggers in the lead roles is questionable, but the performance of John Boyega is so charismatic (the man had star power without question) I was willing to go along with the gambit. It certainly helps that Jodie Whittaker is equally strong as his main victim, who evidences righteous fury at her attackers before extending an unlikely but wholly convincing forgiveness.
Vital Statistics
ATTACK THE BLOCK
StudioCanal/Film4
Director/Screenplay: Joe Cornish
Producers: Nira Park, James Wilson
Cinematography: Thomas Townend
Editing: Jonathan Amos
Cast: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Franz Drameh, Simon Howard, Maggie McCarthy, Danielle Vitalis, Paige Meade, Gina Antwi, Natasha Jonas, Sammy Williams, Michael Ajao, Luke Treadaway, Flaminia Cinque, Nick Frost, Jumayn Hunter, Selom Awadzi