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Review: Attack the Block
Be Fabulous’ resident movie critics Andrew Sheldrick and Faith Brotherston resume their his ‘n’ hers reviews …
MOVIE REVIEW: Attack The Block
Stars: Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, John Boyega
Faith says:
This movie – I use the term loosely – is 98 minutes long. I can tell you that because I looked at my watch hopefully during every one of them.
The premise is this: a clichéd gang of nasty young hoodlums mug a woman at knifepoint, see something fall from the sky, go and find this strange looking alien creature, and kill it, before marching it off as a trophy of how tough they are. Unfortunately, many, much bigger friends of the alien creature come looking for it, and the menacing gang get a taste of their own medicine as they begin to appreciate just how frightening it is to be harassed and threatened and in fear of your life.
Along the way, through 98 l-o-o-n-g minutes of swearing, recreational drug use and violence (as much as you can get away with in a film aimed at 12-year-olds trying to sneak into a 15 certificate film), they decide they need to defend this unacceptable avenging attack on their South London tower block, while taking the time to apologise to the woman they attacked, explaining that a) they didn’t know she lived in the same tower block as them or they’d never have singled her out and b) they didn’t know she was a nurse, and therefore not well paid, or they’d never have singled her out. The fact that they need medical assistance has no bearing on this.
I think there was meant to be a redemptive quality to the film, but it didn’t really come across very well. Something about making up for your wrong-doings and loving thy neighbour, but all I can say is if these little scroats were my neighbours, I’d have pointed the aliens their way and put my flat up for sale, not bandaged them up and helped them survive.
I’m sure Andrew’s going to go into all of the details about the director and the genre and the ironic intention and all that jazz, so I don’t need to. I can tell you this though: it’s not scary, it’s not funny, and it’s not worth the admission fee.
Andrew says:
I could go into detail about how Attack the Block is an exceptionally accomplished directorial debut from Joe Cornish of Adam & Joe infamy. I could mention that it’s a horror forged in the mould of classic genre entries such as The Thing and Escape from L.A. and, inevitably, Shaun of the Dead. I could try and intellectualise it as an inspired commentary on the state of British society. And while all this would be true, it would also ignore one essential fact. Attack the Block is just plain fun.
It has no false illusions of grandeur. It feels authentic in its depiction of today’s alleged broken youth (the dialogue, whilst often incomprehensible never feels forced). It makes the most of a clearly restrictive budget. But one thing will always divide an audience over a film such as Attack the Block. And that’s whether you really enjoy horror films or not.
Of all film genres, horror is arguably the most Marmitey. If, like me, you love being repulsed, shocked and amused in equal measures you’ll sit through even the most dreadful of horror films in the hope of a particularly gruesome or inventive death, or that all too brief glimpse of a ridiculous CG monster. If however you’re not a convert, it’s unlikely you ever will be. It’s nay impossible to convince a horror film naysayer of its merits, and do so is to miss the point.
Attack the Block isn’t comparable with genre classics such as The Thing, Gremlins or Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College (ahem), but it’s a jolly fun way to spend an evening at the cinema. Unless you’re Faith obviously.
Have you seen Attack the Block? Share your thoughts below …
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Name: Faith Brotherston
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