Cast: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Nick Frost
Directed by: Joe Cornish
Written by: Joe Cornish
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction

A group of inner-city teens encounter an alien and beat the hell out of it. More, bigger, vicious aliens land and seek out the kids with the determination of a sex-starved beast. In order to survive, and save the block, the teens and anyone they happen upon must take the creatures down by any means possible.

That is a very simplistic synopsis for a very simplistic movie, but let’s not mince words here. Simplistic ≠ bad. In fact, in this case, simplistic = badass.

Writer/director Joe Cornish has set out to make a very specific type of movie; a type of movie that just doesn’t get made very often. Attack the Block is a film that exists purely as an exercise in hedonism. Its only intention is to take us on a fun ride, and quite honestly, it sometimes seems as if Cornish doesn’t even care about us, but more about fulfilling some childhood dream of his own. The sense of Attack the Block can be summed up by a simple scenario: two kids bored one summer evening; one says to the other, “wouldn’t it be wicked if we were attacked by aliens? Some nasty Gollem-lookin’-muthaf**ckers? I’d go ninja on their arse,” (of course picture that spoken in a Sothern London accent). And, indeed, that is what Attack the Block is – a group of kids playing cowboys and indians, or for the younger generations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

If someone comes out of this film with grievances over convenient story twists or the lack of character development, then they’ve missed the point. There is enough of an underlying message to allow us to relate to- and cheer on the characters, but this isn’t a Mike Leigh drama, it’s a bloody movie about unexplained aliens inextricably attacking a random inner-city London neighborhood. The closest experience I can equate this film to is watching Tremors while listening to “Original Pirate Material” by The Streets.

But enough of what it’s not trying to be, let’s talk about what it is trying to be:

Attack the Block manages to straddle the line of nostalgia for eighties cinema (when innocence wasn’t coddled the way it is now), and immediacy (made with modern technology in a style that appeals to modern audiences). It actually achieves what Super 8 seemed to set out to do in creating an adventure in the same vein as The Goonies or The Monster Squad. Undoubtedly this is because of its lack of sentimentality and more because of its focus on thrilling excitement.

Since the concept is simple, (alien attack), and we live in an age where simple monster costumes just don’t cut it, the special effects team have come up with some really ferocious and, quite frankly, interesting creatures. These vicious buggers look like enemies straight out of a comic book. They are quite literally as black as night, with no definition to them outside of their furry edges and bright blue glowing teeth. There is no doubt that these things look otherworldly, and are terrifying enough to make them quite a threat. In an odd way, they aren’t too dissimilar from those bizarre beasts in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Joe Cornish essentially develops a non-stop chase movie. When he does slow things down, it’s to create effectively fun suspense or gross-out moment. His work with the actors is fine, as he mostly leaves them to their own devices, but he is able to pull a decent performance out of the main teen, John Boyega. Otherwise, his intention (rightly so) is to squeeze as much humor out of his cast as possible. His script is filled to the brim with memorable one-liners (“It’s rainin’ Gollums!”) and these kids deliver the humor with such an infectious energy.

I suppose it’s inevitable that some people might categorize the film as a look at the “kids with guns” issue, and to an extent, the movie invites it. But while Attack the Block doesn’t shy away from inner-city problems, it also doesn’t define itself by them. First and foremost this is a “destroy all monsters” flick, and as such it’s electrifying and electrically-hilarious. Believe.

United Kingdom. 88 minutes. Rated R.

Click Here to Read Blu-ray Review

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