Opening in limited release this weekend is much ballyhooed aliens attack the hood movie, Attack The Block, which pits a teen gang against an invasion of alien monsters, turning a London project block into a fortress under siege, and a group of armed teenagers into heroes. Or as the poster art states, it’s “inner city versus outer space.”
If I could recommend one movie to see this weekend, it would be this one. So, skip Cowboys & Aliens, which I have seen and was underwhelmed by, and see the superior Attack The Block instead.
Since its North American debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival this past March in Austin, Texas, the critical and commercial buzz has been near-deafening, suggesting that it’s perfect summer fare – so general expectations are extremely high! Although that could be to the film’s detriment, because, as is sometimes the case with high expectations, they aren’t always met.
The lure of this film is that Aliens attack the hood for once. This is especially relevant after the release of one of this summer’s most anticipated movies – J.J. Abrams’ alleged homage to Steven Spielberg of old, Super 8. That alien flick centers on a group of white kids in a small Ohio town in the 1970s whose adventures into film-making with their Super 8mm camera are interrupted by a train crash carrying an alien life form. Naturally, chaos reigns in the aftermath.
So here’s another “alien attacks” movie also centered on a group of kids – with this one being of special importance because its story features that rare onscreen occurrence in which the alien, or aliens in this case, invade a predominantly urban (read: black) neighborhood.
The film’s tag line says it all: “INNER CITY VS OUTER SPACE.” And the often vilified, bureaucratically-victimized young black boys who live in “da hood” actually save the day for a change! It all sounds quite revolutionary, doesn’t it?
Expect the cinematic equivalent of a punch in the mouth; a relentless, exhilarating trip into familiar territory, but with a fresh spin.
It starts off with a blast, and promises something altogether fresh, which it does mostly deliver on, though falling back into standard conventions of the genre; actually, really, it’s a mash-up of different genres; many have classified it as a horror movie, but, as I saw it, it was really more of a comedy, action, sci-fi, mystery thriller. And maybe that’s one of its flaws; it suffers from an identity crisis. Not that films can’t successfully exist in different genres.
The cast comprises of mostly unknown actors (which was likely a risk) who do a decent job with their respective roles; although the standout was the leader of the pack, played by John Boyega, who looks eerily like a young Denzel Washington. The 17-year old has future leading man potential, transforming from sinner into saint with chants of “Moses” at the end of the film (that’s Boyega’s character’s name, which should tell you something about his raison d’etre), after his final act of heroism and redemption.
Ultimately, I’d say this is a movie for teens; it has some humor, frights, and it’s light and frothy enough, moving along quickly at just over 80 minutes in length; and, despite its obvious attempt at social commentary, never really gets weighed down in speechifying and sentimentality.
I think most will find enough to like about the movie, and feel like they’ve been entertained after seeing it. It’s mostly fun, summer fare
Tambay Obenson is editor of Shadow And Act on the indieWIRE Network at blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact
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