Attack The Block Review

                                      

Attack The Block is a Sci-Fi action/comedy about a group of South London teenagers that find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion where they must fight and defend their home from evil extraterrestrials.

After watching Attack the Block for the first time, I didn’t think it was the worst film I’d ever seen but it definitely wasn’t up there in my top 10. But after the research I did on the film prior to viewing it I credit Cornish and all the others involved in the film making for how it was made on such a small budget with little resources. For example the camera shots and angles plus the way it was film was definitely a positive for me, my favourite shot being in the last few scenes where Moses is being chased by the aliens down the stairs in slow motion, I thought it was filmed and edited excellently with brilliant camera shots and angles. This scene was helped with the choice of music by Basement Jaxx (which I really enjoyed throughout) and I think it gave the film more of that suburban edge that it otherwise would have been lacking a great deal in. Another thing I thought was good about the film was the character's individuality. Although they all came from the same background they all had their individual roles and stories. If you take Moses (played by John Boyega) for example, the gang leader who plays a really hard faced character that until the last few scenes you think to be quite an arrogant adolescent with a huge attitude and always in endless amounts of trouble, but in reality he's actually just a 15 year old child living pretty much on his own having to solely support himself. I think the way Cornish and Boyega portrayed Moses character in Attack the Block gave a great understanding to the audience on how some teens in Britain are living and almost helped you as the audience form a connection with the character out of sympathy for his loneliness at such a young age and guilt for your judgements made beforehand. However, in comparison to Moses you have the two young boys 'Mayhem' and 'Probs' who add a touch of light-hearted humour to the film through their innocence and naivety in the suburban war against the aliens going on around them.

In spite of all that, I also think Attack the Block had a lot of downfalls. Firstly I didn't think the plot itself was great, it majorly lacked any suspense or grip throughout which I think was due to its mixed-up genre that was stuck somewhere between a sci-fi horror (however not scary enough) and comedy (not being anywhere near funny enough). All this being a huge let down as Attack The Block being the follow up from the maker's of 'Shaun Of The Dead' who mastered this mixed genre of horror/comedy perfectly and better than anyone else, ever. I also thought Nick Frost's character Ron (the drug dealer) came as a huge disappointment compared to Frost's previous performances in 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Paul' where he usually plays the protagonist in any comedy scene as his trademark, this however was hugely missed throughout Attack The Block. I also thought any humour or jokes made in the film were very fabricated and even in some scenes not funny at all as it was pushed way over the boundaries of being funny and ended up being somewhat 'cringey' and even stereotypical. This lack of humour or 'wit' also comes with an almighty empty space of atmosphere in a scary or comical sense. Which, even when watching the film for the first time lead me to become bored and un-interested in what was going on.

And, last but not least I cant help but mention the poor 'special effects' used to create the aliens, who can I just say aren't in the slightest bit scary for an audience of 15+. Their fluffy jet black fur made them look like large cuddly soft toys for children and with this came their ridiculous glow-in-the-dark teeth.
But, after all with the tiny budget of approximately 13 million dollars (which is a minuscule amount in the film industry!) they had I understand why they didn’t go all out with the alien's appearance, famous cast members and other special effects that are missing and  usually what make the great Hollywood blockbusters. So in all honestly i should probably should give Cornish, the cast and everyone else involved credit for what they did make with the little money they had.

I would rate this film overall on a judgement with background research done about the making of the film itself a 3/5.