Attack the Block

Right after ATTACK THE BLOCK was over, I felt as if it was not unlike any other zombie / disaster movie. I am so discouraged by any film that slowly kills its characters off one by one, but does it artfully. Years ago, I watched every single FRIDAY THE 13th, HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie in a row. It took months, but I saw them all, and after being so completely conditioned to the way those movies work, when I see films like ZOMBIELAND or THE CRAZIES, I see them working in the exact same fashion. ATTACK THE BLOCK seemed as if it was keeping off of this track, but, like another film that should have been good but fell prey to the easy and unnerving bump-everybody-off-in-ten-minutes formula known as SHAUN OF THE DEAD, the film began to fall off the rails. But it has been a week since I've seen ATTACK THE BLOCK, and now I appreciate it more. The film follows a band of British ghetto stragglers. At first they're extremely unlikeable, mugging a nurse for just a few bucks, and then going to a weed inventory. But slowly there's a certain innocence that arises, and with it comes empathy. At the head of the gang is Moses (John Boyega), and then four members. After mugging the nurse, they're interrupted by a meteor that plummets into a neighboring car. Moses goes to investigate, and he's attack by a monster. The gang hunt it down and kill it, but they're soon being chased all around town by creatures, aliens, they presume, whose teeth glow a gross green and look like gorillas. As the film progresses we care more and more for the gang, and we see how they're all really just protecting each other. When the end comes, and a few people are dead, there's an injustice that's exemplified by those deaths. There's some of the problems of SHAUN OF THE DEAD present, and really some of that film's style seeps into ATTACK THE BLOCK when it's unwelcome. But the flair in ATTACK THE BLOCK that's lent by the gang is undeniably charming, and all in all, this is a fun film.

Attack the Block: ★★ 1/2 out of Five