"Attack the Block" (2011)

For a couple of years now I have wanted to see this film, mostly for the positive critical buzz it got. That buzz usually involved praise for the innovative writing, the authentic acting, and the original take on the familiar, alien invasion theme.

All of that buzz was truly earned, but then again, it is also in many ways more of the same old story. In this case, people try to appeal to the deeper meaning and message of the film to demonstrate its greatness. The fact that poor, disadvantaged, misunderstood thugs are presented in a way that causes us to see them as the people they are—not to mention the “turnaround” that Moses and his gang undergo in the story as they become heroes—are not enough.

The supposed change that many see in the film just isn’t convincing. You can’t escape the fact that these are teenagers who rob a woman at knifepoint simply out of boredom. Their heroics against the aliens are simply more of the same until it becomes serious enough to be motivated by survival instinct. There is not enough to merit redemption here.

However, even if this film is not great or truly unique, it is a good, suspenseful yarn. Be warned though, there is the violence accompanying blood-thirsty aliens and language one would expect from though, drug-dealing, armed and robbing thugs.