Attack the Block
Attack the Block stars Nick Frost as a group of teenagers mug a young nurse. As they are mugging her, an alien invasion begins. The muggers and the nurse are then thrown together by chance to save London from the alien’s grasp.
All the characters are very stereotypical. We have the black boys that are horrible muggers, with the damsel in distress, and the white posh boy who is desperate to be black and down with it. It would be nice to see a film that does not rely on such stereotypes. Yet by the end of the film we realise that these characters are so much more: they have evolved past these labels.
The film produces some good lines and comedy banter that will make you chuckle. Director Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) has wisely created an alien that looks very convincing. By having an alien that is literally a big black ball of fur, it does not suffer from being an ET lookalike. Further, it adds shock and suspense when the aliens first attack, more like a horror film then an alien invasion story. Another clever idea is that the alien invasion occurs on bonfire night with most people assuming that when they land they are simply rockets that have been misfired. This is an interesting and very realistic idea to the film’s credit.
Sam (Jodie Whittaker) however is a very annoying character. The way in which she contradicts herself constantly in the early part of the film does little to build sympathy. Similarly, for an alien invasion film it is never a good sign when I was urging the aliens on to rip the humans to pieces. The aliens are given a reason as to why they are wanting to rip the humans apart but it still would have been nicer to have aliens that were more District 9 and less savage.
Attack the Block is an interesting take on the alien invasion story. Yet it does not have the substance that other recent films such as District 9 have. It instead leaves you feeling strange. It does have good moments but there are problems with it. This is far from perfect but if alien invasion films and Scott Pilgrim is your cup of tea, this might be for you.
