Attack the Block (2011)

What a horrible, tasteless, tacky POS! This movie epitomized the mindless drill that millennials have become! This movie is made to be played in the background as you do housework to drown out the sound of the vacuum, that's about all it's good for, or maybe, I couldn't even finish that sentence, that's how mind numbingly BAD this movie is!

I know that British science fiction films are always a bit hit and miss, due to the lack of budget for special effects and actors. 'Attack the Block' is no different in as much as you probably won't recognise anyone in the cast (besides Simon Pegg's best mate, Nick Frost - and he's not in it much). However, this film knows that and plays to its strength enough to actually make it worth watching. It's set in (what I always called) a 'council estate' in London, but the locals tend to just call it 'the block.' It's a maze of run-down high rise, low income flats where you probably wouldn't want to walk alone at night. And that's pretty much where the story begins - a woman walks home from work, only to find herself fall victim to muggers. However, before she has time to call the police, a new threat arrives - aliens.So, it becomes one of those 'team-up' movies where two sets of people with vastly contrasting backgrounds/values etc, have to pull together in order to defat a greater foe. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but if one section of your 'heroes' (note the quote marks?) are the muggers who stole from a helpless nurse one night, it's a little hard to see them in much more of a better light than the monsters who are now ripping them to pieces. And they do get munched on quite soon. The aliens deserve a mention because - and maybe due to a lack of budget - they quite simple, but, at the same time, also quite well done. They have a different look and feel to any other monsters you've seen on screen and, for that, it actually works.Plus the film has John Boyega in his only real 'pre Star Wars' role. It's interesting to think how he went from low budget sci-fi to possibly the biggest budget sci-fi franchise ever known. Now, as anyone who's watched the new Star Wars films will know, he's very good at what he does and highly watchable. However, as I've mentioned, he's playing one of the muggers. Granted you could argue he goes through major 'character development' and in the course of the story mends his ways, but - again - a lot of the likeability of this film relies on the audience being able to root for these hoods over the monsters.So, if you can get over that 'minor' gripe then there's actually quite a bit here to entertain you if you're looking for a cheeky little sci-fi/horror number that is self-knowing enough not to take itself seriously. Plus I still think the aliens are cool.

I am not a huge fan of horror films and the reasons I chose to see this film was because it featured John Boyega in a pre-Star Wars part and because the plot is creative. Overall, I found it to be watchable but nothing I'd jump to recommend. I do, however, admire the film's ability to tell the story with a very small budget. The plot involves a tough London neighborhood which is invaded by weird alien creatures. These things are NOT particularly nice and when the cops don't seem to be coming to the rescue, the local junior hoods rise to the occasion and declare all out war on them.If you do watch this film, understand that the story is very, very simple and the language is raw. Aliens versus punks and that's about it. But it manages to work well for what it is. My only qualms is understanding some of the language....it's hard for many to understand the slang and accents so I'd strongly recommend you turn on the closed captions unless you can easily follow the dialog.

Mutual distrust turns to uneasy alliance as an alien invasion forces a group of British teens to work together with a nurse who they mugged in this action thriller starring John Boyega as the leader of the teen gang. Boyega is just as effective here as in 'The Force Awakens', giving his hardened character a vulnerable, human side bubbling beneath the surface. The actors who play his young friends are well cast too. Jodie Whitaker is less effective as the nurse and Nick Frost is criminally underused, but in general, there is a lot to like about how the characters interact here. There are even some scattered comic moments to be had in how everyone from the teenagers' girlfriends to the local teen drug lord scoffs at their claims of being under alien attack. The gradual bonding between Whitaker and the teens, who she initially describes a "monsters", in the face of *real* monsters is where the film succeeds best though - so much so that the action sequences end up being a low point of the movie. Without any eyes and glowing sharp jaws, the creatures are quite unsettling to look at, but all the attack scenes become a little repetitive with the film sagging towards the middle. The movie certainly ends on a very high note, however, with a third act that potently pushes the film's single biggest message about teen thugs always being misunderstood and never properly recognised.