Inner City vs. Outer SpaceAttack the Block (2011) is a British teen sci-fi movie, produced by the company that made Shaun of the Dead (2004), a zombie horror comedy movie.
Synopsis: During Bonfire Night at South London, trainee nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is walking home to her flat block in South London when she's robbed by a gang of masked, hooded teenagers led by Moses (John Boyega).
Suddenly, a fiery object falls from the sky and crashes into a nearby car. Sam flees while Moses and his gang members Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones), and Biggz (Simon Howard) run to investigate the crash scene. They manage to hunt down and kill a small alien creature and take its carcass to Ron (Nick Frost) who has a secret storeroom where he grows weed.
Soon, more and more meteors fall but this time, the creatures are bigger, shadowy, and bestial. The bunch of seemingly hopeless teens who have attacked Sam are about to become hers, and the block's, only hope.
Okay, so here's my verdict. This is a very unusual movie. First of all, the main characters in the movie are played by a bunch of unknown young British actors, both black and white. This reminds me of Super 8. However, although Attack the Block has a fair bit of comedic relief moments, they are certainly not as kiddy as Super 8. On top of that, the action scenes are pretty good but not too intense to the extent of jeopardizing the kids' life.
Secondly, the plot is simple yet weirdly original. I mean, alien invasion is not a new thing but this movie gives it such a surprising twist that you will stay put to watch from beginning till the end. Third, there's blood and definitely a bit of gore for those who don't believe in bloodless action scenes.
Finally, the ending is rather unexpected although it does make sense. A zero becomes a hero overnight. Well, everyone deserves a second chance, right?
If you like Super 8, you might like this movie as well. I realized that sometimes, watching British movies can be a rewarding and refreshing change, especially after wasting my time on too many so-called blockbuster movies. Yeah, I still want to trash BAYformers, I mean Transformers 3.
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