Movie Review: "Attack the Block"
I'd heard a bit of buzz on this one via several British genre magazines, so when a free advance screening materialized at the ever-popular Alamo Drafthouse, I scrambled to secure a pass. Got there one hour and ten minutes before showtime--and was isssued Ticket Number 201. Wow. Packed house.
Tagline? "Outer space meets inner city." It's the teenage hoodies and yobs of the London projects versus feral extraterrestrials. A bunch of young thugs and chavs are out for a spot of the old ultra-violence when they chance to encounter an angry and bestial alien that has just crash-landed near their turf. The ensuing diplomatic discourse involves sticks, bricks, and baseball bats. But it turns out that this alien has friends...BIG friends. And they seem most displeased at what has happened.
This is pretty well-done stuff. It's your basic "Hoodlums versus monsters--fight!" scenario, and the movie doesn't over-romanticize these low-grade teen criminals, but at the same time you begin to warm to them and get a grudging understanding of why they do what they do. There are a couple of subtle commentaries about social justice and inequities, but nothing pointed enough to be overtly preachy. The movie also does a nice job at individualizing the gang members so they are not just disposable redshirts who are there to be slaughtered like mooks in service of a high bodycount.
Good multiracial cast, no real problems cutting through the mild accents, solid effects on a fairly limited budget, fairly tight pacing. Nick Frost is the big name in this one, but he's here in a minor supporting role. Recommended.
Tagline? "Outer space meets inner city." It's the teenage hoodies and yobs of the London projects versus feral extraterrestrials. A bunch of young thugs and chavs are out for a spot of the old ultra-violence when they chance to encounter an angry and bestial alien that has just crash-landed near their turf. The ensuing diplomatic discourse involves sticks, bricks, and baseball bats. But it turns out that this alien has friends...BIG friends. And they seem most displeased at what has happened.
This is pretty well-done stuff. It's your basic "Hoodlums versus monsters--fight!" scenario, and the movie doesn't over-romanticize these low-grade teen criminals, but at the same time you begin to warm to them and get a grudging understanding of why they do what they do. There are a couple of subtle commentaries about social justice and inequities, but nothing pointed enough to be overtly preachy. The movie also does a nice job at individualizing the gang members so they are not just disposable redshirts who are there to be slaughtered like mooks in service of a high bodycount.
Good multiracial cast, no real problems cutting through the mild accents, solid effects on a fairly limited budget, fairly tight pacing. Nick Frost is the big name in this one, but he's here in a minor supporting role. Recommended.