The story of a council block inhabited by an odd mixture of London poor, that happens to become the center of an alien invasion. From the producers of Shane of The Dead, Attack The Block is a pretty straight forward take on a monster movie.
Unlike CGI fests such as Super 8 and Cloverfield, Attack The Block gives us a story on a human level-and leaves the over the top special effects in the box.
Our heroes don’t start off very heroic, they are busy mugging a woman when something falls from the sky and flattens a car. They find an alien something inside. The alien is small and appears to be nothing but an animal. It attacks one of the street thugs and he decided to take it out. It is only later, when a number of larger and meaner things fall from the sky that he realizes this might have been a bad idea.
The whole story takes place on a personal level. We follow around a number of people as they fight for their lives while running from a lot of strange aliens with dayglo teeth and really black fur. They don’t look at all like the first alien, but there is clearly some connection between them. The authorities eventually show up, but they seem to have no knowledge of the alien invasion-they are still investigating the mugging from the opening scene.
Attack the Block is not a comedy and it’s not a parody, it’s just a good old fashioned sci fi movie. There are a few funny bits and a few scary bits, and there’s a lot of action.
I liked the political aspects Attack The Block, mainly that Big Brother hates the poor and wants them dead. At one point the main thug, a black teenager with dreams of being a drug dealer, says that the government sent the aliens to kills them, as they weren’t killing each other fast enough. At another point he asks why someone is helping poor kids in Africa when there are plenty of poor kids in London that need help. I’ve ask the same question myself.
I liked Attack The Block, but it very much a British film, and may not be to all Americans liking.
