ticket for one

ATTACK THE BLOCK

lately, all my favorite american movies seem to be coming from abroad: ”drive” (denmark), “the raid” (indonesia), “13 assassins” (japan), and ”headhunters” (sweden). and by that i mean, i leave the theater mesmerized, only to reflexively lament: why the hell isn’t hollywood making movies like this? (instead of churning out drivel like “wrath of the titans”, “battleship”, and action franchises starring nicolas cage).

written and directed by british auteur joe cornish, “attack the block“ is another fantastic “american movie”. reminiscent of 80’s teen adventures like “gremlins”, ”the goonies”, and “e.t.: the extra-terrestrial”, cornish’s film follows a gang of kids who stumble upon an alien crash-landing, and then band together in hopes of saving their neighborhood.

“attack the block” may be “american” in inspiration, but it steers clear of homage and nostalgia. the movie is no spielbergian tale of wholesome, upper middle-class white kids who ride BMX bikes past well-manicured suburban lawns of sunny southern california. rather, cornish spins a darkly humorous urban myth starring young black teenagers swathed in baggy black hoodies and face-concealing bandanas who rove the tenements of south london. 

early in the film, an elderly neighbor screeches, “they’re fucking monsters!” but the aliens haven’t even landed yet; she’s referring to moses and his friends whose attempted gang-mugging of a resident has been abruptly interrupted by a fallen explosion from the sky.

their flagrant disregard for authority, juvenile penchant for terror, and dizzying, nearly impenetrable london thug teen-speak calls to mind the kubrickian ghosts of alex and his three droogs. but instead of clashing with rival gangs, moses and crew find themselves administering some of the old ultraviolence on bloodthirsty creatures from another planet. it’s almost like “a clockwork orange” meets “gremlins”. or if “super 8” had been written and directed by ice cube instead of j.j. abrams.

the aliens turn out to be these black-as-night wolf-gorilla motherfuckers with rows upon rows of flesh-rending fangs that radiate a deathly, dayglo blue. upon discovery of these interstellar intruders, pest raises the battle cry to defend their ‘hood and stomp some alien ass:

“y’know wot dat is? i tol’ you wot dat is. dat’s an alien, bruv. believe it. musta come from outta space tryin’ to take ova da’ earth, innit? well, it landed in da wrong place tho, ya get me? DA WRONG PLACE.”

with frenzied whoops, moses, jerome, dennis, biggz, and pest run to their parents’ flats and hastily arm themselves with baseball bats, chains, a katana sword, and a box of fireworks. backed by a killer soundtrack, the rest of the movie plays out as a sharp mix of horror-comedy with one-liners coming on the heels of jump-scares and gruesome carnage between alien versus juvie delinquents.  

it’s a shame “attack the block” received such paltry distribution in the u.s.—  particularly given hollywood tried its own clumsy hand at similar genre-mashing with a half-baked adaptation of “cowboys & aliens”. sadly, hollywood really might now be the very last place to look for a good “american” movie.