This film has had a lot of hype and attention recently and there certainly seems to be something of a renaissance in British Sci-Fi happening right now. An alien invasion occurs on a council estate in South London and it is up to a group of hoodies to deal with it. With Joe Cornish (of The Adam and Joe Show) as the writer and director it is to be expected that this film has comedy elements and it is already being compared to Shaun of the Dead (2004). However, I instantly loved Shaun of the Dead whereas I think Attack the Block is much more of a grower. Without giving too much away the main characters, a gang of youths, are not likeable at all at the start of the film and I believe you as the audience are supposed to grow to like them as the film progresses. I did not really find this unfortunately and I found the redemption of Moses rather irritating.
The soundtrack by Basement Jaxx is great and I really appreciated hearing it at the cinema. The aliens are extremely interesting and I loved the glow in the dark teeth. The fact that they are so black you can hardly see them feels a lot like something developed for budgeting reasons and while they integrate well into the film I did not find myself fully investing in them as things to be frightened of. All this said I did thoroughly enjoy Attack the Block, it was interesting to see a film set solely at night and I welcomed the urban setting of the block.
Attack the Block is a fun film which has an interesting but not overly complicated concept, I enjoyed the simplicity of it. It is not particularly scary and there are some laughs to be had. There has been lots of comments on issues of subtitles for the film due to the language the youths use but again this has been overly hyped and any vaguely intelligent person will be able to work out what is going on through common sense. This film is definitely a victim of hype but there is something there that I feel British cinema really needs right now. It is trying to offer something different and for that it has my respect. It is certainly not a perfect film but I look forward to a second viewing and maybe I can learn to love it like I love Shaun of the Dead.
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