Thursday 24 November 2011

Attack the Block

This is a great alien attack movie, set in a grimey London tower block. It's not new, subtle or revolutionary, but it's a great ride for anyone with a couple of hours spare. And there are some great alien creatures too...


 I'm a great fan of Joe Cornish, the comedian/first-time director of this movie. I was thinking of writing a long-winded review about this, but, well, there's no point really. It's exactly what it says on the tin. The aspect I did really like though, were the alien creatures. Instead of going with low-budget cgi beasts, like those used in numerous tv shows and movies, the makers used some real imagination and created some brilliant scary beasts. They're black, totally black so all you see is a dark furry outline, but then the beasts open their mouths to reveal amazing glowing blue fangs! Like in  many classic creature horror films, they used imagination and originality in the place of generic snore-inducing effects.
 


 I'd love to rave about this, but it's not really that kind of film. It has the feel of an old favourite, that you'll watch whenever it comes on the tv, but probably won't rush to go and buy. Saying that, those who're fans of creatures, like me, should definitely seek this out. I liked the setting and the characters; a gang of 'hoodies' in a rough London estate, but the antithesis of grimey modern life and hollywood sci-fi concept didn't really have the novelty factor that it wanted. Anyone who's watched Shaun of the Dead, the first 2 seasons of the TV show Misfits, or many other cult films will have seen this scenario before so it's not quite as funny as it could be.

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