Attack the Block Image
  • Starring: Alex Esmail, Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega
  • Summary: Attack the Block is a fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing estate into a sci-fi playground. A tower block into a fortress under siege. And teenage street kids into heroes. It’s inner city versus outer space. (Optimum Releasing) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Jul 26, 2011
    100
    Starring a tough-minded band of scrappy teens who actually do some solving, it's the movie "Super 8" wanted to be - or should have been.
  2. Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    Jul 28, 2011
    40
    This low-budget sci-fi item was produced by some of the Brits who made "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," including their writer and director, Edgar Wright, but it hardly compares, despite Nick Frost's brief appearance as a mangy pot dealer.
  3. Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    Jul 28, 2011
    0
    Attack the Block is the other alien-invasion movie opening today, the lousy one, the one from Britain. In Britain, it's probably just a regular bad movie, but here - with accents that are barely comprehensible and in-jokes about council flats, not to mention a swerving handheld camera and some of the cheapest effects since "Night of the Lepus" - it's surprising this thing ever got released.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 33
  2. Negative: 2 out of 33
  1. In this imaginative variation of the classic theme, a South London gang takes on a small-scale alien invasion. These are just teenage punks pitting their moxy and street skills against creatures that are vicious, but surprisingly vulnerable, kind of a dark (literally) versions of a Sendak beast. From the way the thugs talk to the racial/social themes, this film should gather a cult following for its originality. The action scenes are well-staged and the characters develop nicely. Give this a chance and it'll pay off! Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  2. Attack the Block is a fresh twist on the done to death alien invasion film, presenting its tale from the viewpoint of a group of thuggish British teenagers. John Boyega gives a strong performance, but his character is just so uncharismatic. It's hard to warm up to a thug who robs a young girl at knifepoint in the opening scene. He later forces the girl to attend to his friend's wounds, refusing to seek a proffesional's help. The supporting cast is mediocre at best, totally overplaying their roles. The trashy teenage girls annoyed me to no end, with the exception of the down to earth Paige Meade. Nick Frost is wasted, given a promising character but underwhelming dialogue. Too much of the humour is reliant on pop-culture references, rather than anything really original. If there's one thing the film achieved to its fullest, it was reminding me just how much I despise British thug culture. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Joe Cornish makes a fundamental blunder with the story that cripples the movie before it really gets going. You don't allow your lead character - your hero - to band together with his young masked male friends, to surround a terrified nurse, and then threaten her with a knife until she surrenders her bag, her ring, etc. TARP (the average reasonable person) probably ancipated a rape. Joe must not have a mother, sisters or female friends he cares a whip about. It's a little tough for the lead character to redeem himself in the eyes of the audience after an opening act like that. Even when the same youngster (Moses) forces himself into the young lady's flat to flee the aliens, he never gives the lady a choice but help his buddy. He later semi-apologizes to her, saying he did it because he didn't know she was "from the block." Yes, he would have robbed her of her dignity with a clear head if she was from the next block. It was interesting that I saw this film a couple of nights after the London riots began because the youngsters from this film looked a lot like the rascals looting and burning the stores around that great city. In this context, and thinking about my own sister and mother, I just couldn't find myself so easy to forgive Moses and his pals for their crimes againt the young nurse. Beyond this fundamental problem, the movie is just not all that funny, and the aliens are not all that scary. Sorry, Joe. Try again. Expand
    • 2 of 11 users said yes

See all 33 User Reviews

Related Articles

  1. The Best and Worst Movies of 2011

    The Best and Worst Movies of 2011 Image
    Published: January 5, 2012
    Get our final rankings for the past year's best- and worst-reviewed films and see how 2011 compared to previous years.
  2. Ranked: Best and Worst Directorial Debuts Since 1990

    Ranked: Best and Worst Directorial Debuts Since 1990 Image
    Published: August 4, 2011
    A pair of new films from first-time directors, "Attack the Block" and "Bellflower," are receiving strong reviews. Where do they rank among the best and worst directorial debuts in recent years? Find out inside.