Attack the Block

Attack the Block is an incredible directorial debut by Joe Cornish. He wrote and directed this movie and has had a hand in writing some of the most highly anticipated screenplays in the film industry such as The Adventures of Tin Tin. The cast consists of mostly unknown teenage actors and one well known actor in Nick Frost. This allows for the characters in the movie to be believable because the viewer just sees the characters and not the actor playing them if that makes sense. The kids start out as hooligans but they form into a group not unlike that in The Goonies. This movie really bests most alien invasion movies in almost every aspect.

The plot of Attack the Block is simple enough, it deals with an alien invasion that starts in South London in the projects. There is a group of hooligans that are having a busy night mugging people and then an alien crashes to Earth right next to the group. This is where the action begins and they go and hunt down the alien and then parade the body around the block. They then see more and more of these aliens crashing down to Earth and then the group decides to take on the aliens head on. Throughout the movie the group reunites with the mugging victim from the beginning of the movie and has to work with their weed dealer as well. This is a very basic plot description that I am giving and this is really a movie that needs to be seen to get a sense of what I am describing. The last half hour of this movie is really masterful because it injects great humor into a crazy situation that these kids are in and they have to find a way to survive as their friends are being picked off one by one.

Joe Cornish is a great up and coming director in England and I hope he gets a real shot to direct good movies in Hollywood. He has been mentored by what is in my opinion the best team in movies which consists of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost. That team has never done anything wrong when they are together, and they are on the verge of making another movie to round out their Blood & Ice Cream Trilogy. I'm interested to see how The Adventures of Tin Tin ends up because Cornish was one of the main writers and it will be interesting how the balance of action and humor ends up.

This was a truly amazing movie in my personal opinion. This beats almost any alien invasion movie I have ever seen and the only other movie that rivals this in terms of quality isn't even an invasion movie and the is District 9. The movies are very different in terms of tone and story but the originality is what makes each so much better than everything they can be compared to. Productions like Battle Los Angeles, Independence Day, and others may have had a bigger budget than Attack the Block but those movies have no heart and their characters are very one note and you as a viewer feel nothing for the characters on screen. Attack the Block really makes you care for characters who don't seem very sympathetic in the beginning but over time you really start to root for the characters and it gives the movie its heart. You want this group of friends to make it through their situation and when one gets killed you really feel like an integral part of the group is being taken away. The creature design in this movie is also really inspired and really simple at the same time. basically they boil down to an alien with the body of a gorilla with a mouth of row after row of razor sharp teeth. Even when there is a close up of the aliens you only see a ball of jet black hair and a mouth full of glowing blue teeth. Really simple and really terrifying at the same time, which is very similar to the Xenomorph in the movie Alien. Just about everything in the movie is great and all of the elements of the movie come together to make an incredible movie.

This is a must own movie on Blu Ray and is a must see movie in general. I will definitely be watching this movie several more times and I am sure I will enjoy it more and more each time. Joe Cornish and the cast of the movie all have a very bright future in the movie industry and that is a wonderful thing because each could do very well when given the right project. Take my advice and go see this movie , watch it on Blu Ray for the best experience.