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Attack the Block
| Released |
13 May 2011 |
| Director |
Joe Cornish |
Starring
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Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, Joey Ansah, John Boyega |
| Writer(s) |
Joe Cornish |
| Producer(s) |
Nira Park, James Wilson |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
87 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, sci-fi |
| Rating |
16 |
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Good, innit!
You may be, as I was, harbouring completely the wrong idea about Attack the Block. A genre film transplanted to a mundane English setting, the writer/director a stalwart of 1990s Channel 4 comedy and the presence of Nick Frost in the cast list make comparison to the work of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright inescapable. Inescapable, but as it turns out, inaccurate. Unlike the pop-cultural explosions of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Attack the Block is first and foremost a monster movie, with the laughs a second priority. As a result, it may baffle some audiences but should not be discounted; Joe Cornish (of cult comedy duo Adam & Joe) has made a fun modern sci-fi movie that works on its own terms rather than relying on nostalgia.
The film takes place in a run down complex of flats in inner city London. Young nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker), has not lived there long and on the walk home one evening is mugged by a local gang led by the old beyond his years Moses (John Boyega). Sam is in the process of finding her attackers with the police when the block becomes overrun by strange, savage creatures and she must join forces with the kids who mugged her.
The central cast is populated by young unknowns, and very good they are too, brimming over with the required attitude (or “swag” as I believe the kids are calling it these days). Cornish should be praised for providing them with a script that relies on the almost indecipherable inner city patois of London teenagers but manages to ring true without a hint of the scent of desperation of trying to be “down with the kids.” Boyega is particularly enigmatic and has real screen presence. Frost and Luke Treadaway meanwhile provide light relief as a hapless dope dealer and his poshest customer.
For me though the most impressive aspect of the film was the design of the monsters themselves, which is a masterstroke of concept over budget. Their fur is so pitch-black that they can just be seen as looming silhouettes surrounding glowing ultra-violet teeth, thus neatly cutting out the problem of creating realistic texture of alien fur and skin. Very clever indeed and more threatening than it sounds! So Attack the Block wasn’t what I expected but was still an entertaining and exciting watch and a promising debut from Cornish.
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Linda O’Brien |
