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Attack the Block (2011)

Director: Joe Cornish

Time Out rating

Average user rating

40 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

It’s always worrying when an artist you admire in one field decides to branch out into another. Bob Dylan’s painting career, Russell Crowe’s band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, the novels of William Shatner – are all destined for the trash pile of cultural history. But on the strength of his feature debut, ‘Attack the Block’, it’s already clear that, in a decade’s time, no one will even remember that Joe Cornish used to be a comedian.

At first glance, it looks as though Cornish has set the bar low for his first movie. A storyline inspired by the ’80s genre movies he grew up with (and lovingly parodied on ‘The Adam and Joe Show’), tied to a currently popular film fad – the London yoof movie – and set literally on his doorstep, ‘Attack the Block’ could easily have been a lazy, smug sci-fi parody: ‘Morons from Outer Space’ goes gangsta.

But, like the aliens that rampage through a Brixton tower block, this is an entirely unexpected beast. An unrecognisably well-spoken Jodie Whittaker plays Sam, the jobbing nurse whose decision to move into a south London estate backfires when she’s first mugged by teen thugs, then chased by marauding monsters. But Whittaker, and comic relief Nick Frost as weed dealer Ron, are merely the audience-friendly commercial face of ‘Attack the Block’. The real stars are those thugs, led by taciturn wannabe player Moses (John Boyega, stunning), whose decision to tool up and defend their turf kicks the plot into high gear.

And this is an astonishingly fast-moving film. Cornish doesn’t do eerie build-ups or character-establishing dialogue scenes: it’s pedal to the metal from the word go, and we learn on the hoof about Moses’s family issues, Ron’s business troubles and the complex relationships within the gang.

This can make the opening scenes confusing: there are a lot of characters to keep up with. But it pays off in pure adrenaline: we’re never given a second to settle, and the result is exhilarating. Gradually characters emerge, and it’s here that Cornish’s skill as writer and director becomes evident. These kids start out as caricatures – the moody leader, the speccy geek, the mouth – but the respect shown to them is hugely refreshing, and their progressions are heartfelt and wholly believable: Shane Meadows would be proud.

All of which elevates ‘Attack the Block’ from fun creature-feature throwback to this year’s unmissable British movie, and Cornish from just another geek-turned-filmmaker to a major talent: if he can strike a similar balance between sympathy, insight and crowd-pleasing thrills in future projects, his status is assured.

‘Attack the Block’ isn’t perfect – the aliens are a tad unremarkable and the final blowout never hits the frenzied peak it might have – but it’s hard to imagine British audiences having more fun in a cinema this year. Now, who’s going to fund the Adam Buxton movie?

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2125: 11 – 17 May, 2011

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User reviews of this film

Not-a-gangsta said...

Posted on Feb 06 2012 17:41 The only thing funny about Nick Frost is Simon Pegg.
The acting in this movie really is dreadful. I guess that is funny in a meta sort of way.
No appeal at all to anyone outside of the UK.
Garbage

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Rhys said...

Posted on Oct 12 2011 14:27 no, i think the best bit is when one of them say this thing is blacker than black, and the other one goes " this is blacker than my cousin femi" xD

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Danny said...

Posted on Sep 25 2011 08:38 As a non-film buff I found this film very enjoyable, entertaining and at the end uplifting. On the money. I'm not from Souf London so no loyalty there, a middle class ordinary citizen from the Portsmouth Bronx! Point being, I think will appeal to a wide audience

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MoviGeekBlog.com said...

Posted on Jul 17 2011 09:38 It’s hard to know what the target audience for this film is supposed to be.
The Horror fans would have seen it all before, the US kids will be put off by the accents, the snobby/arty elite will certainly find it all a bit too silly to care about its message, but I must confess, I came to it with very few expectations and even though it took me way too long to get into it (it's hard to care or sympathise with kids who in the beginning are shown assaulting and mugging people), once I was finally with it, I actually found it all rather enjoyable for the its slightly trashy fake-B-movie sensibility (but a lot more clever than it claims it is), its mix of horror and humour (though not incredibly funny, nor too scary) and its retro-80s sensibility and in the end I was happy I saw it, though I'm not as enthusiastic as this Time Out reviewer
MY FULL REVIEW on my BLOG wp.me/p19wJ2-o2

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MH said...

Posted on Jun 18 2011 12:35 I think this may be the most fun film so far this year.

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JJP said...

Posted on May 31 2011 07:55 HUDDLESTON'S REVIEW BEGAN WITH A 2-PARAGRAPH SHOW-OFF OF HIS RESEARCH (BORING!) HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE; I THINK THE FILM ITSELF IS FAR MORE INTERESTING THAN PEOPLE HAVE SAID.

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Jan said...

Posted on May 30 2011 00:49 I did not find the film scary, I found the morals strange, the characters flat. Did not get it at all to be honest. Not a film for a broad international audience, not at all.

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nathan said...

Posted on May 29 2011 00:28 best line of the film "right now, i just wanna go home, lock the door, and play some fifa"

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Di said...

Posted on May 28 2011 21:39 I'm an "old lady" and I thought this film was brilliant. Lots of social comment and funny as well.

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Phil Ince said...

Posted on May 28 2011 00:20 Good to see a good cast of young, black British actors in a 'mainstream' film but the production is just a bit too TV movie just a bit too often. Essentially, it's an episode of Doctor Who with no star and a 15 certificate.

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disappointed filmgoer said...

Posted on May 27 2011 20:44 I was really looking forward to this film, as I'd been a fan of the Adam and Joe Show years ago, and it's had great reviews, but I really found the central characters hard to sympathise with. They basically kill an alien life form, just because they don't like the look of it, and then we're supposed to care if they get eaten themselves? Sorry, but I didn't. I'd have happily seen them all devoured. And the aliens were actually quite cute and fluffy. Some of it was entertaining, but I was basically unmoved.

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andy said...

Posted on May 26 2011 16:53 Not brilliant,but not bad.Not on par with James Cameron but then it is not really meant to be.Plenty of action but it did lack tension,but I don't think that really mattered that much because it was quite a character driven movie.It set up the stereotypes and then slowly deconstructs them when you start to get to know the kids and what motivates them.The begining of the film was inspired by Joe Cornish getting mugged practically on his doorstep and then talking to kids in his area to find out what motivated some of them to mug people in the first place.So you can tell he has sympathy for his characters.Like I said though if you don't go expecting an Aliens or Predator type film,rather a mildly amusing British caper movie with aliens thrown in then most people will find it entertaining enough.

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Ms Domestica said...

Posted on May 24 2011 23:58 Hilarious. And not (despite some of the other contents) not 2 dimensional nor without moral content. The characters grow as plot unfolds, some meet sticky ends, granted, but the yoof get to take their hoodies off and they get to see beyond their own prejudices and all the while a very Kung-Fu David Carradine kind of message is being drummed out: you reap what you sew, And I loved the low budget effects. Bring it on.

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lowest common denominator said...

Posted on May 23 2011 14:11 Disappointing poo. Very formulaic. Avoid.

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Jo said...

Posted on May 22 2011 16:47 Am afraid I disagree with Nick – it isn't just for the very young who have hardly seen any films (so therefore, I'm guessing Nick, don't know better). It's great fun and there's plenty of positive stuff to say about it. Impressive performances and great dialogue which pretty much any Londoner will appreciate. Brilliant fun!

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