Starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter, Nick Frost, Danielle Vitalis, Paige Meade, Michael Ajao, Sammy Williams
Directed by Joe Cornish
Expectations: High, but I really don’t know what to expect. Heard there were aliens.
Who woulda thought that in 2011 there’d be two summer movies about kids battling aliens? Could the 2010s possibly be the return to the reckless abandon of the 1980s? If Attack the Block is anything to go on, I’d fully support that movement. Attack the Block feels like it is to alien invasion films what Shaun of the Dead was to zombie films: an awesome, “low-budget” ($13 mil) shot in the arm to a genre that had been overtaken by bombastic Hollywood bullshit. I fuckin’ loved Attack the Block and it is easily one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen all year.
While a gang of hoodlums mug a girl, a meteor falls from the sky and crashes into a nearby car. The girl runs off and the gang leader investigates the car for valuables. Instead he finds a crazy alien that attacks him on sight. The gang manages to corner and kill the beast, but soon they realize that this is only the beginning to one fucked up night.