PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’m
broadening the scope of my “Bad Movie of the Month” feature to “Movie of the Month”
– henceforth known as “MotM” – because as much as I enjoy bad movies, I also
enjoy movies that are legitimately and unconditionally good. And those deserve some love, too…
There’s no place like home. Home is
where you hang your hat, where your heart it.
Is it any surprise that people fight
that much harder to defend their home? Sports teams do statistically better on their
home turf. The upstart colonists were major underdogs against the visiting
British in the American Revolution. Unfortunately for us, the same rule was in
effect when we went into Vietnam.
People just naturally fight that much
harder when defending their home. Even when they’re delinquents, and home is
some crummy low-income housing.
Attack
the Block kicks off at night in a sketchy part
of town, where a nurse named Samantha (Jodie Whittaker, who you may know as the
13th Doctor) is mugged by a gang of teenagers. The mugging is
interrupted by a meteor crashing into a nearby car. But instead of staying with
the fleeing Samantha, as most movies would, Attack
the Block remains with the muggers. Turns out there was some kind of
creature inside the meteor and the gang, led by Moses (John Boyega) chases it
down and kills it. Seeking recognition, they bring the body to a pot dealing
friend (Nick Frost!) and ultimately to the local crime boss who lives at the
top of their high rise apartment building. Unfortunately, that’s when more
meteors fall from the sky…
Let’s get this one right out of the
way: the creature design is amazing.
Most of the aliens look like some kind of wolf/bear/ape hybrid, but with
glow-in-the-dark fangs.
Oh, and with fur that’s blacker than
black. I’ve never seen anything like it (neither had the characters). The fur
is blacker than the cover of a Spinal Tap album.
 |
| Told you so. |
Apparently the creatures were created
with a combination of suits, puppetry and animatronics, with CGI used sparingly
and only to enhance the physical effects. And from what I read, the approach
succeeded in scaring the piddle out of the actors during the film’s shooting.
Of course, you need more than a great
costume design to make a great movie. The performances of the kids in the gang
– all young and unknown actors – are solid across the board. They may be
streetwise hoods, but the film makes sure to show that they are still kids, even allowing them to show
flickers of fear through all the bravado during the opening mugging scene –
where they’re the ones doing the mugging. And Boyega is captivating as the
quiet, serious Moses. It’s no mystery why he was cast to star in the new Star Wars trilogy.
It doesn’t take long for the gang to
realize they have no choice but to face the aliens head on. This isn’t the thug
life they’d been aspiring to and while they come off as very flip about the
Block, it is their Block.
Given their age, it’s no surprise that
when the gang suits up to take on the aliens, they look more like The Goonies
than The Crips. No heavy ordinance here (this isn’t the U.S.), they mostly
carry bats and knives and ride bikes and scooters. The script is smart enough
to come up with ways for the gang to get themselves in and out of trouble, to
have the gang and Samantha team up in a way that’s plausible, and to not pull
any punches.
Attack
the Block was the directorial debut of Joe Cornish,
whose career up to that point consisted mainly of the sketch comedy The Adam and Joe Show and some
behind-the-scenes documentaries for Shaun
of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. It’s
the helluva debut, handling action sequences, special effects and inexperienced
actors with clarity and confidence.
Attack
the Block is fantastic fun, and quickly
establishes Cornish’s career as one to watch. If you haven’t checked this out
yet, it’s absolutely worth the rental. Believe.
Congratulations,
Attack the Block: You are the Movie
of the Month.
