Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Movie Review: Attack The Block

Synopsis: A gang of tough inner-city kids try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an extraterrestrial war zone.

This is from the same producers who brought us the excellent films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, so my expectations were pretty high. Thankfully, they were met as this is another solid distinctively British sci-fi/horror flick with a really nice style and a whole lot of fun.

It's got a whole lot of energy and several good twists and turns plus some nice cheeky laughs. It's sort of a social satire but nothing is thrown in your face, merely underlying. The aliens show up right away and the action doesn't let up enough for it to ever get too preachy or boring. There's plenty of gore and well-shot action sequences plus a few suspenseful scares. The aliens are pretty cool looking considering the low budget.

The "good guys" are really not so good guys here though. They're teen thugs who are stealing and robbing their way though life. It's easy to dislike the baggy-clothed, foul-mouthed hoodlums as it's something I see all too much of anyway, in person and on the news. I wasn't sure whether I wanted them to defeat the aliens or become a snack for them most of the time. Obviously though, that's part of point of this movie, which you'll see by the end. Still for me though, I'd prefer heroes who I can relate to, not root against.

All-in-all it's part social commentary, part action-filled sci-fi/horror comedy. Lot's of fun though.

8/10

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