Attack the Block Review

Movie: Attack the Block
By: Orlok666
Date: September 8, 2011

Killing big alien-gorilla-wolf motherfuckers

“Attack the Block” is one of those movies that take some well-known genre conventions and turns them around. Writer and director Joe Cornish knows the rules of the game and plays with them in a suburban setting.

Suburban twist

You’ve all heard about the alien invasion movies where a few protagonists find themselves in a situation where they have to take a stand against the extra-terrestrial threat. Check, check and check. But this time the protagonists aren’t that likable at all. The first scene where they are introduced is when they’re robbing some poor woman. And when some meteor crashes into a car they don’t hesitate to have a look and steal whatever is in there.

The bastards have landed

But that meteor wasn’t just some rock. As the leader of the gang Moses (John Boyega) takes a look in the car he’s attacked by something which runs after the attack. Infuriated the gang seeks out the attacker and after killing it they find out it wasn’t just some orang-utan. In triumph they drag the corpse along to the local drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) who might know what it is because he watches a lot of National Geographic. Looking out of the flat they realize that wasn’t the only beast hitting earth. Ready to bring in another kill they soon find out the rest is a lot bigger than their first encounter. Running into the nurse (Jodie Whittaker) they robbed at the beginning of the evening they finally have to team up to resist this wave of monsters that are attacking the block.

From the block

Cornish did a good job scripting the movie giving it a good pace and the parts that are less action-packed are compensated with humor. Also the suburban feeling is spot on with a colorful mix of inhabitants in the block, the gang talks slang and really seems to consist of kids from the block.

John Boyega gets his chance to shine as gang leader Moses, though mostly consisting of looking angry he’s believable as some hardboiled criminal to be. Luke Treadaway is doing good as the squemish upper-class guy but Nick Frost is stealing all the scenes where he’s in with some nice one-liners. Of the gang members that Moses leads most are not standing out that much and serve to give the gang a bit more flesh. And the aliens as well.

A lot of alien-gorilla-wolf motherfuckering fun

In his directional movie debut Joe Cornish knows how to give a nice twist to this – at first sight- all too average invasion theme. The setting in a suburban area with some young criminals as the main characters is fresh and all the characters are believable as the likes you’ll find in the downtown areas. Their street-attitude isn’t just some sugarcoating as you normally see in movies where some characters are portrayed as bad-ass but quickly enough turn out to be some heroes in disguise.

It definitely a fun, action-packed sci-fi movie that is not shy of using some blood. With the producers of “Shaun of the Dead” behind the movie it raises expectations and it didn’t disappoint at all. In cinema’s it provides a great night out and on dvd / blu-ray it’s a movie you won’t mind to watch again. With Cornish mostly busy as a writer now I hope we’ll hear from him soon in the director’s chair as well.

DVD REVIEW

Image quality

As most know Attack the Block has been shot in old format of 35mm film. Which us grain, grain what you will through the whole movie. It can be a bit annoying but it is how the movie has been shot. With that in the back of our heads we see a vibrant color movie with some very nice shots. The depth of the picture and saturation of it all just adds up.

Sound

With all the explosions and things going on sound wise it comes together pretty nicely with this Dolby Digital 5.1 track. It falls short in every way if you look at the blu-ray brother but this still holds it ground. The music of Steven Price sounds great and really adds to the experience.

Extras

None for this release.

Overall

Attack the Block is a nice movie with very good sound and some very nice pictures to see. Again this Dutch version doesn’t have any extras which seems blend but in the end no killer for a movie like this.

E1 Entertainment