Attack the Block (2011)

Toilet Review: Just because the bad guys are, well, bad guys, doesn’t mean they can’t save the day every now and then.

I watched this movie on a whim one evening that I wasn’t feeling too well. Normally, I have a very well laid out plan of movies that I plan on watching. The “immediate to watch list” usually has anything between 5 and 15 movies on it any given time, and I am usually loathe to skip any of them. Some have been sitting there for a long period of time, and sometimes I feel guilty for not getting to it sooner.

This movie, however, managed to skip the list and land straight at my feet as I was too sick to do my usual routine, and I am glad it did.

“Attack the Block” is an alien invasion movie with a difference. There isn’t any scientist or love interest or government assistance. This is a movie set in South London. in a place where most people would not like to live. There is crime and violence on every street corner, and kids do what they must to survive.

The leader of our band of heroes goes by the name Moses. He is teenage boy, the head of his own little gang, and awfully angry at the world. The opening couple of minutes of this movie tells us everything we need to know about Moses and his boys, as they violently mug a woman on her way home from work. Thankfully, she is saved when something crashes into the car next to her. Turns out it is an alien, and the boys of course, decide to kill it. Things soon go from bad to worse when they realise that this isn’t the only alien, and soon the entire area is swarming in killer beasts, determined on finding the killer.

I loved this movie. There is just so much going on. The bad guys are just kids. Kids that the world has forgotten, that their parents have forgotten, that are acting out because they can, because they have nothing else. No hopes. No dreams. Nothing. We only see snippets of their lives outside their gang personas. They are a group of teenage boys saving London from aliens, and how does the world repay them? I’m not going to spoil it, because I really do believe you should watch it.

John Boyega (Moses) is absolutely flawless in this as the tough teenage gang leader. He deserves every bit of success he gets and I cannot wait to see him in the new Star Wars movie. His portrayal of the kid in a man’s world is just amazing.

Not your typical Alien Invasion movie, but the better for it.