Attack the Block Review

 

        I’m with you on this one since neither of us have even heard of this movie. I forgot where exactly I heard about this movie that made me want to check it out. Just to get this out of the way, I didn’t watch the movie just because it had actor John Boyega, who was in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. With most movies, I went in with an open mind. Attack the Block is probably one of my favorite foreign films. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Intimate Alien Invasion

        One would think that it would be film about a turf battle among gangs. Absolutely not, a gang that’s called The Block. Led by Moses who is Boyega’s character see an asteroid crash onto a car. The group breaks in to steal the radio, a small alien attacks and Moses kills it. Little did they realize, more aliens in asteroids are falling in their area of London. 

It’s a breath of fresh air when anyone who thinks about an alien invasion movie thinks big invasions, massive battles, generals strategizing, and Will Smith. With Attack the Block, the invasion is limited to a high-rise apartment complex. It would’ve taken away from the characters to have the aliens land elsewhere. Also, the weapons that the gang uses are limited to fireworks and baseball bats. 

The aliens do look interesting. When we see the first one, it’s white and small. Very feral along with the black ones who have glow in the dark teeth. Which I thought they were eyes, but they have no eyes. I feel that the Xenomorph from the Alien franchise is always the go to for people to make a good knockoff. We really don’t get an explanation, but just that they land and wreak havoc among the gang.

2. Unlikely Heroes

        The Block Gang are the quintessential anti-heroes. They begin by robbing a woman of everything. I honestly thought that the character Sam would just appear in the beginning and that’s it. She actually contributes to the overall plot. Since, Moses and Sam have this distrust for each other that they begrudgingly accept help from each other. 

        The other members in the gang are actually good on their own. I was surprised that when more aliens appear that some were actually killed. Shocked as I was, I literally thought that all of them would survive. Moses and the gang practically change throughout the film. It’s a little known tidbit that can make a movie better than what it is. Since near the end, the whole gang changes their act including Moses who actually tells Sam that he’s just 15. 

    

        One thing that kept popping up is the idea of broken homes in the movie. Mostly all of the gangs in the apartment complex don’t have a stable family. Most of them live with single parents, grandparents and relatives. It’s the idea of nature vs nature that’s all over the film. Especially when Sam tends to one of the gang member’s wounds when an alien bit him. And it’s apparent since there are two little kids who mimic them and unintentionally help out killing the aliens. 

        The final aspect that I noticed is the slow moments when characters just talk and really digest what’s going on. After the gang survive an encounter with the aliens, they stay at their friends room. All of them are wondering why they are seeing aliens invading on their neck of the woods. Moses questions possibly that the creatures are the government’s creation. The movie didn’t have to be that deep, but when you see later on Moses’ life, it make sense since he was dealt a bad hand of fate. 

3. Overall

        Arguably, this is one of the best foreign indie films that I have seen just by pure curiosity. The scope is small to make the characters intimate and the threat isn’t exacerbated by them being everywhere. It’s a fun, poignant film that deserves to be watched on Hulu, for a limited time since I have no clue when it’ll be removed from the service. 

Attack the Block gets a four out of five.