Review of film: “ATTACK THE BLOCK”

Review of film:  “ATTACK THE BLOCK”

 

In the past few years, we’ve seen a number of films based on the idea of ALIENS who visit the Earth...

...  This British film has some “DIFFERENT” twists to it:

...  Nurse Sam(antha--  played by JODIE WHITTAKER) is trying to go home after her shift.  She’s threatened by a bunch of five teen-age TOUGHS in the low-income area where she is, & they grab her cell phone...

..  The gang is led by the biggest guy named Moses (JOHN BOYEGA), & Jodie’s very uncomfortable at the bothersome “sexist” comments by others such as Hi-Hatz (JUMAYN HUNTER) & the group’s “pushy” lone white boy named “Pest” (ALEX ESMAIL)...

...  As Jodie is trying to avoid any further problems with the group, something comes out of the SKY & crashes into a CAR near them.  One of the robbers wants to use that as a way of getting into the car to STEAL something (like a music player) out of it...

...  But, as he tries to enter the car, he himself is attacked by a CREATURE that’d crashed into the car from the sky...  He then works to chase after the creature, & --  with the help of the other guys -- promptly works to KILL it (as Jodie uses the situation to ESCAPE from the gang)...

...  It’s an ugly-looking creature, &, tho somewhat small, appears quite ALIEN in its looks (especially the facial area). The guys in the gang are “unimpressed” by it, & drag it along to show some OTHER people what they’d found & destroyed...

...  The guys all live in a huge low-income apartment complex, & a number of the people there (especially some women) don’t BELIEVE their story of finding & murdering an “Alien”... 

...  The gang guys work to bring the creature to a WEED-dealer in the building, who has a special “protected” room for growing his weed...  His sort of “mouthpiece” is an older guy named Ron (NICK FROST), who at times talks with a 20-ish weed-head customer who seems to be named Brewis (LUKE TREADAWAY)...

...  At one point, the gang sees that there are a number of OTHER fiery “CRASHES” going on outside their building, which they assume are OTHER aliens trying to attack their area of South London...

...  Rather than waiting for any “government” authorities, the gang members + some younger “hanger-ons” decide to go out on their OWN to “DEAL” with the invaders...

...  They (& others in the building) happily gather together a bunch of make-shift “weapons” (including a BAT at one point) as a way of SLAYING the “Aliens” who they think are attacking their “BLOCK”...

...  What the guys are not prepared for is, these “new” aliens are considerably LARGER than the one they’d easily killed...  And, while they don’t appear to have any eyes, they do have GLOW-in-the-dark TEETH...

...  Well, these larger Aliens are NOT easy to kill, & ferociously FIGHT BACK against anyone who’s bothering them...  We see battles between the GANG members & the aliens, + the aliens attacking the POLICE who are in the area (partly in response to Jodie’s complaint against the gang who’d robbed her)...

...  As a trailer says, it becomes a situation where “It’s INNER CITY Vs. OUTER SPACE”...  As time goes on, Jodie starts to feel that the “gang” guys may NOT be so “bad” after all...

...  Will the gang understand WHY the Aliens seem to be “TARGETING” them?...  Will they be able to effectively go into BATTLE against the invaders?...

...  Will the protected “Weed” room give the group the SHELTER they’re seeking against the aliens?...  Who will be “LOST” to the Aliens, & who will eventually WIN the conflict & HOW will they accomplish that?...

...  This is an unusual mixture of COMEDY, SCI-FI & ACTION genres...  The gang members & their “affiliates” are at times FUNNY in their “bravado” (especially in the form of NICK & his overly-“mellow” demeanor)...

...  The “Aliens” (for a low-budget flick) are fairly “MENACING” in their sci-fi way...  And, there are a NUMBER of action “clashes” between the various protagonists...

...  In certain ways, it’s a fairly “CUTE” little film, & effective in what it tries to do because of the way it sets up a bunch of clearly-delineated characters (even when their personalities & actions often go “over-board”)...

...  It would have helped to have some CAPTIONS for the dialogue, especially of the “GANG” guys, in that they frequently talk with a difficult-to-understand dialect & British “slang” vernacular...

...  There are numerous ILLOGICAL elements in it:  having aliens with no "eyes" who could somehow climb up the sides of brick / concrete buildings & find humans in certain specific apartments;  their NOT attacking certain "easy" targets at times...


...  And, the ease in the way the Aliens were being KILLED by poorly-armed humans, tho the Aliens had the technology to fly thru SPACE to here (& thus should have been able to devise more "weapons" & defenses), etc....

...  The movie is not any “great” achievement, tho it is "FUN" overall.  For a LOW-budget somewhat-“fluff-like” take-off on the “aliens-attacking” genre, it has some enjoyable creativity and some decent acting inherent in its efforts...

...  Thus, considering what it "was" (compared to what it "COULD" have been & all), I’m rating this at 7.0 (or maybe 7.25) out of 10 stars...

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