Review: Attack the Block

Attack the Block /

Like Romero on speed and hallucinogens, with alien invaders replacing the zombies, Joe Cornish’s debut feature is an adrenaline-fueled 90 minutes of action and social commentary. Despite its seriously loopy premise–the aliens descend on a rough-and-tumble South London apartment complex–the movie never feels overly flashy, thanks to an infectiously hip cast of teenage punks and practical creature effects that serve as a fitting tribute to science-fiction films of yore. This juxtaposition of new and old–the distinctly contemporary multi-ethnic urban landscape, captured through Cornish’s ode to the renegade sci-fi filmmaking style of the ‘60s and ‘70s (albeit considerably more frenetic)–is where the film finds its voice. For a new era, monsters return to their roots: as a mechanism by which audiences can explore sociocultural anxieties through farcical escapism. You don’t have to be British to enjoy most of what Cornish is going for, either — there is plenty of general commentary on what it means to be a young person at a time when, despite the promulgation of technology, generational rifts within communities are still rampant. But in addition to the substance, of course, comes a wealth of style, with numerous action set-pieces that will have viewers on the edge of their seats and wowed by Cornish’s visual command. Fans of executive producer Edgar Wright will also be overjoyed to see Nick Frost pop up in a small role as the complex’s resident drug dealer whose “weed room” proves an ideal hideout from the aliens. While it may not be as revolutionary as an early Romero picture, Attack the Block captures the legendary filmmaker’s trademark balance of brains and braun better than he himself has in decades.

* * *

Attack the Block (2011, UK). Produced by James Biddle, Jenny Borgars, Will Clarke, Matthew Justice, Lucy Pardee, Nira Park, Tessa Ross, James Wilson, and Edgar Wright. Directed and written for the screen by Joe Cornish. Starring John Boyega, Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, Adam Leese, Joey Ansah, Flaminia Cinque, and Chris Wilson. Distributed by Screen Gems. Rated R, with a running time of 88 minutes.