Music, Style & Culture

Attack The Block

Daft and playful, yet tense and brutal - what the alien invasion genre has been crying out for.

Released in cinemas 11th May 2011.

Having never seen or heard the Adam and Joe show (I know, shoot me), my only real knowledge of Joe Cornish is that he loves films. A lot. As it happens, his directorial debut contains that one thing all the studio money in the world can't buy - the film geek's passion.

With Edgar Wright as executive producer, comparisons with Shaun of the Dead are inevitable. Tonally, two completely different films, the comparison has one giant validation: just as Shaun of the Dead was a genuinely brilliant and faithful zombie film, Attack the Block is a solid and witty sci-fi thriller, as seen in the good old days, i.e. the 1980s. Neither are spoofs, and both are charmingly, sometimes darkly, amusing.

Jodie Whittaker is Sam, a woman walking home late on Bonfire night. Before she can get to her South London estate, she's set upon by a masked, hooded gang, who steal her jewellery and handbag. As the gang pick over their spoils (one pithily regretting that they've just mugged a nurse), they encounter their first ever crash-landed alien. As aggressive to the creature as you'd expect, they're no match for the following onslaught. Alien creatures literally rain on the estate, and before long, the gang are forced to team up with an (understandably reluctant) Sam to defend the tower block during one frantic, bloody night.

John Carpenter's influence is all over this, and it's a pleasing, yet subtle, homage. Unsympathetic heroes, misty silhouettes, and a pulsating synth soundtracking the horror. Strikingly shot by Tom Townend, South London's tower blocks are claustrophobic and labyrinthine and make for glamorously green-hued tunnels of terror. Cornish nails the vitality of the Eighties action films he clearly worships. This is very much in the present day, but there's not a shred of post-modern irony - something which would date the film horribly.

The gang are played by a mix of relative unknowns and nonprofessionals, and every one manages to charm, despite their dodgy proclivities. John Boyega is a real find as Moses, the leader of the gang and the film's anti-hero. Quietly intimidating and burning with indignant self-righteousness, he isn't to be trifled with. The others are bundles of nervous energy with impeccable comic timing: Alex Esmail is a highlight as the smart-arse Pest; Simon Howard is impossible to hate as the cute Biggz; as Dennis, Franz Drameh is the cocky yet brave one, and Jerome (Leeon Jones) is the obligatory soft-hearted brainbox whose gang involvement you can't understand. As an old bastard, I can't vouch for the dialogue's authenticity, but Cornish workshopped the script with South London teenagers and the cast themselves. It's like a time capsule of youth culture, and not always a pleasant one. The Goonies they are not, and the film doesn't let you forget it.

Cornish took a risk with his flawed leading characters, and it's paid off. For example, which Londoner wants to pay money to have the scumbags they cross the street to avoid as their action heroes? To be expected to cheer them on? I certainly didn't. Cornish, bravely, doesn't go down the reformed character route. When you end up cheering on Moses (and you will), it's not because he's had a sudden transformation, it's because he's behaving how all good film heroes do - it's exactly how we'd want ourselves to act. It worked for Pitch Black's Riddick, and it works here - even though it's uncomfortably close to home. Attack the Block isn't social commentary, and neither is it trying to be.

As for the rest of the cast, Whittaker is great as the cynical, bitter voice of the audience, always on guard from both the aliens and the gang. Nick Frost's drug dealer gives the film a slightly goofy feel, somewhat killing the solid, observational black humour from the kids. However, stealing the film is Luke Treadaway as the posh boy who thinks life in the hood is jolly exciting - all the laughs are at his expense. Finally, the terrific aliens themselves - jet-black lupine beasts with neon jaws - are more monster movie than modern-day alien, helped by the deliberate lack of CGI.

Like Joe Wright's Hanna and The Chemical Brothers, Cornish has married Steven Price and Basement Jaxx's electronic score with heart-pounding action sequences in dingy corridors. Most importantly, it gives grotty London estates an almost magical cinematic sheen which is unexpectedly stunning. At a brief 90 minutes, Attack the Block is a plot-light but action-heavy siege with striking and original aliens and killer one-liners. It's daft and playful, yet tense and brutal. As refreshing as District 9, it's a film that the alien invasion genre has been crying out for after the tedious and tired Battle: Los Angeles. A solid, confident effort, relentlessly entertaining and exhilarating, Cornish is clearly the lovechild of John Carpenter and John Landis. Somehow.

Rating: 8/10