Attack The Block

2010-2012 seem to be the rebirth years for alien invasion movies. It feels like the numbers of movies with this subject has jumped DRASTICALLY over the last few years, and seem to increase exponentially every year. Usually, though, we get the same old Hollywood rehash, but with Attack The Block, England is throwing their hat into this already crowded territory. The difference? While special effects are core to this story, Attack The Block is an almost anti-Hollywood film.

Moses and his buddies are hood rats in a council estate in England. One night, while the rest of London seems to be partying, they decide to rob a young woman coming home from work, Sam. After relieving her of her earthly belongings, they continue to incite more mayhem, until they run across a creature that has fallen from the sky. They believe it's an alien, and their fears come to fruition shortly there after, when an invasion happens in full force. Now Moses and his friends, who by various circumstances have teamed up with Sam, have to protect themselves, and the "block" from the invading monstrosities.

I can't say that I liked Attack The Block. Can't say I didn't like it either. The leads didn't make it easy. All of the main characters, short of Sam, are unlikable D-bags. To be honest, there were times I was happy when they were getting picked off, and there's, basically, no character arc for any of them, except the very slightest of curves for Moses (almost to the point of not being there). Nick Frost, who plays the Estate's 2nd in command weed dealer is one of the funniest actors we have right now. How in the world they managed to make him so incredibly unfunny is beyond me. I feel like the problem with Attack The Block, as an American viewer, is that maybe the cultural divide is just too great. I got some of the jokes, but, for the most part, if there were supposed to be more, I wasn't in on them. It felt like there were times they were setting some up, but they either didn't happen, or I just didn't find it humorous the way someone from England might have. I wanted to like this movie a lot more than I did, but it just didn't deliver for me.