ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) (a review) *** RENTAL ***

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) (a review)

A Brittish horror-comedy from the studio behind SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ and SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD.

The story: after robbing a young nurse new to their neighborhood, a group of street thugs on the verge of becoming drug dealers realize their block is being attacked by space aliens and struggle to defeat the monsters and save their neighborhood.

Was it good?

Kind of.

Honestly there was a lot I liked. The space aliens as monsters were pretty cool (kind of like the Iz in THE MAXX). There was a lot of comedy and once they start having to deal with the aliens it was all really good. There was just one big problem -- the kids.

The basic arc is that these kids start out as street hoods and then become heroes, but for me nothing they did later made up for who they showed themselves to be early on. These weren't good kids in a bad gang or kids who needed money to pay some bills -- these were kids that were taking pleasure in terrifying other people. Especially with the nurse, not only robbing her but trying to frighten her and enjoying it. And the whole "redeem" arc just didn't work for me. I didn't believe they had changed, I didn't think they deserved to be forgiven, and honestly I was hoping the monsters would kill them all.

Another weird thing, when the nurse was attacked it was the cops who came to her aid and tried to help her. But later (as we're supposed to side with the kids) the cops are portrayed as bad guys and I just never felt that.

Now if the movie had just let the kids be real anti-heroes instead of trying to turn them into "good" kids/redeem them, then it might have been more interesting. The aliens attack but the kids fight them off not because they are really good kids, but because they are more vicious and sadistic than the aliens...that might have been interesting.

So this is a tough call for me. There's a lot to like and if I just cut off a bit from the beginning and the end, it would have been a great film and a strong recommend...but as it was once I could feel the filmmakers pushing me to be sympathetic to the kids, I just couldn't accept it. However, there's enough here that it might be worth a look for some...

*** RENTAL ***