5 out of 5

Director: Joe Cornish

One day, in the future, this site will allow half-stars and then you will not be misled by 5 stars when the real rating is 4.5. But that’s not so far off. Here: some teen South London hustlers are privy to what may be an invasion – aliens crash landing all around their block. The buggers don’t seem too bad at first, but after offing one of these aliens, the kids start to meet some bigger, badder versions… The theme that flirts with the movie is that of actions having consequences, and while the message itself may not be new, the updating of this formula to a very modern feeling kids movie (I know it’s R, but this is so Goonies with modern kid talk and awareness of Saw movies) is both new and familiar at the same time. Similar to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – another fun, stylistically confident, heavily localized genre update – Attack the Block has the same respect for its setting: not avoiding showing the pitfalls of these South London blocks (which seem like projects, basically), and not glorifying them either, but making a point to say “this is where we live, it’s where we’ll always live, and that’s okay.” Putting the pieces into place does take some screen time, and playing the balance between making the kids too cool and realistic doesn’t really sing until the middle of the film, but overall this is a slick experience, a good balance of entertainment and thought all done on a seemingly manageable budget, a “cool” movie that doesn’t do anything stupid with the camera or music to bring you some funny moments, scary moments, awesome creatures, and well-planned plot turns that don’t feel telegraphed. Cornish may stumble around as did Guy Ritchie post Lock, but that doesn’t change that you should see this movie.