Attack The Block (2011)
Certified: 16
Duration: 88 minutes
Directed by: Joe Cornish
Starring: John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, Nick Frost
KRS release
This film is the sort of independent feature that aspiring film-makers should be aiming for: raw, fresh, full of ideas and energy that will carry the audience in its wake. Joe Cornish makes quite an excellent directorial debut.
If you boil the plot down, it is something John Carpenter would have come up with in his heyday and milked it for all its worth: a group of teens defending their turf in a sort of gang war – however, not from another gang but from a group of aliens.
The word “block” in the title refers to a tower block in South London housing estate in which the film’s tale is set.
The teens in question are Moses (John Boyega), Dennis (Franz Dameh), Biggz (Simon Howard), Jerome (Leeon James) and Pest (Alex Esmail). The quintet takes a purse and some other stuff from nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker). The next thing they know is that an alien spacecraft crash-lands on a parked car nearby. With the entire hullabaloo that is going on due to fireworks set off all over Britain, the authorities do not notice the crash-landing. Thus it’s up to these young gangsters to fight it off with the space creature and in one way or another make some cash out of it.
Involved in all this we find Ron (Nick Frost), a cannabis grower. What the gang believe to be a one-on-one fight soon escalates to a full block invasion as the aliens retaliate for the alien that the gang kill off.
The film’s main strong point is the dialogue which from early on establishes the atmosphere, grittiness and humour of the situations of the film. The script also gives a sense of roundedness to the characters and provides a spark to the supporting characters. Despite some of the roles are quite small, they are still given ample flesh to make them likable and go beyond the clichéd roles that usually populate such films.
John Boyega’s performance is the best in the film as he is given the role of the gang’s leadership. Jodie Whittaker provides the film’s sense of right and wrong while Nick Frost delivers the humour. However, the decision to cast mostly unknowns lets the film reap dividends as this combination really succeeds. The film achieves a well-balanced mix of comedy and drama, of homage and spoof. Traces of the likes of Assault on Precinct 13, Aliens and The Warriors are to be found in this film and worn proudly. This in itself is also due to the film’s editing and energetic tempo which keeps matters moving briskly.
The creatures themselves are quite shaggy, scary, and fast. The film’s ace in the hole has to be Mr Cornish’s vision which blends a number of genres all smoothly together. We shall next see this director’s scriptwriting skills in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Belgian comic book character Tintin.