Saturday 2 July 2016

Attack the Block (2011)

"Hurry up guys, we gotta catch 'em all!" "Calm down Biggz, this ain't Pokemon!"


Directed and written by: Joe Cornish

An inner city teen gang defends their block from outer space aliens' apparent invasion.



My friend Pipsa and I rented two movies today, and since I saw this one last, it's easier to write about this one now. The other one will be in the list of short reviews at end of July.

Attack The Block is a movie I've low-key wanted to see for a long time, but for some reason I never got it. I didn't even know what the plot was though - but once I quickly glanced at the summary and watched first few minutes, it's clear that the plot could be a B-movie. But the technical side of the film makes sure this film is pure quality!

While the plot is simple - aliens attacking and all that jazz - the writing is amazing. The skillful writing is mostly shown through the dialogue. The dialogue is hilarious, and it sounds like teenagers could genuinely talk instead of too childish or too mature. But while the dialogue is so much fun, the characters sometimes drop incredible truth bombs about the society. While you'd easily think that's kind of weird in the middle of alien invasion, they aren't just thrown there. It comes from the conversation, which is weirdly realistic even in this quite absurd scenario.

The writing's finesse can be also shown in the characters. They are anti-heroes, but they are more than just the trope. They do what they have to, and that means they can mug people when they need to, and other times they can save people. It's clear they are teenagers who feel like they can't trust adults anymore. They only have themselves and each other, and all that. That could be analysed better once I've seen this film again.

One great thing  about the monsters of this film is that they are terrifying and quite unique. They easily give you jump-scares, but after the film you don't think they are going to attack you from around the corner. After all this isn't a horror film.

Another thing that makes Attack The Block really stand out it's the cinematography. Mostly it's simple and basic, but there are few extremely interesting angles. Also every shot seems kind of beautiful because of the excellent use of colours. 

There are so many amazing things about this film. It is very easy to enjoy it: it's thrilling, visually beautiful and filled with interesting dialogue and characters. I don't understand how it isn't bigger than it is. It's definitely a movie you should see!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
9 / 10

No comments:

Post a Comment