A small British film in 2011, Attack the Block probably hasn't quite made it onto the radar of a lot of Americans. Yet it might be one of the best science fiction movies in a long time. Produced by the studio that gave us Edgar Wright's fare, you knew right away that something awesome was coming up.
The film starts off looking like it might be the British equivalent of The Wire with a young woman in the "block" is mugged by a group of youths. Things quickly take a turn for the stranger when right after, a meteorite crashes right nearby. As they examine the crash, a dog-like creature lunges out and attacks one of the kids before fleeing. Moses, the leader of the gang, pursues the alien beast, and they kill it and parade it around the block.
They figure that the safest place for it is in the weed fortress of a drug dealer at the top of their apartment building, Ron (played by the always amusing Nick Frost). From the upper floors of the building though, they are able to spot other meteorites as they crash nearby. It is quickly apparent that this is an alien invasion. The kids, feeling invincible, gear up with baseball bats, collector's katana, knives, and loads of fireworks and then roll out to find and kill these new aliens.
The creatures, by the way, look awesome. The most striking detail of the creatures is that they are not CGI. Indeed, they are motion actors wearing giant, furry suits and running around in a way that seems to cross a wolf with a gorilla. (One of the kids even calls it a "big alien gorilla wolf lookin' motherfucker.") To have them be real objects in the shot instead of computer images superimposed really adds to the feel of the scenes. Those creatures are literally in that garage with them, literally in that room with them, literally in the building with them. It enhances the nervousness you feel watching the movie.
As for the creature design, they look really frightening in their simplicity. They are an extreme black with glowing blue teeth. It's extremely intimidating. They primarily use smell as a means of finding where to go, so they are able to find everyone with limited problems. And because they have strong arms and legs, they are extremely mobile and agile, able to climb up the buildings, jump far, and cling to the ceiling.
The characters are mostly young, but they are all very well fleshed out. Each character has their own personality that feels complete. You get insight into their respective living situations and backgrounds. But most importantly, you see the development of these characters too. The relationship between Moses and Sam (the woman he mugged earlier who is trapped in the block with them as they battle the aliens) is one of the most intriguing in any movie of the last five years. The way that all of these characters intertwine with each other - from the kids, to their female compatriots, to Sam, to the weird white druggies upstairs, to the major drug dealer - is so tightly wound. Mix this with how smoothly all of the scenes transition from one to the other and you realize just how well crafted this kind of cult movie is actually made.
The acting and directing and writing is all solid. It's scary and funny at the same time. And it's not your typical "kids stepping up and being brave" fare! These kids are in danger. Any one of those characters could be killed! You have every reason to worry (and spoiler: not all of the kids make it). The gore is also quick and not necessarily super graphic (there are a couple of graphic gore, but they're both really quick), so even if you don't do gore and blood, it's not bad.
The movie also have a killer soundtrack. From the very get-go, the music creates the feel of the block and of the film.
It's definitely a fun, exciting movie with a surprisingly well developed set of characters and relationships. The effects are awesome and not heavily based on CGI (which is refreshing). I don't want to say that if you liked Edgar Wright fare, you will like this, but it seems that there's a good amount of cross over.
Frankly, it's one of my favorite films in recent years.
No comments:
Post a Comment