For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Thanks for reading!
The
Breakdown - Attack The Block
The Impression:
There is so much geek hype swirling about this property how
could I not be clawing at my windows to see this film?
The Reality:
With the amount of build-up preceding my viewing of
Attack The Block I had sort of prepared myself for the
inevitable let down. No film can so adequately the sate the
voracious nerd appetites of so many, it just can’t happen,
or so I’ve come to believe. Yet Attack The Block
does. Joe Cornish has created a sort of thugged out
reflection of J.J. Abram’s Super 8, where instead of
white kids hugging each other and fighting an alien, a group
of hard-ass London projects youth are spitting game and
going out of their way to kill these aliens by any means
possible. It’s a hard road Cornish sets for himself, the
film introduces our 'protagonists' by having them rob, at
knife-point, a woman and then beat an baby alien to death.
These aren’t you’re average film kids, these are burgeoning
criminals forced in to public service when a squad of hairy
blind aliens crash-land in to their 'block.' The film is an
absolute blast to behold. Cornish, like his writing partner
Edgar Wright, is able to spin the tired genre (see
Cowboys And Aliens for proof) in to a quick-witted,
hilarious, darkly comedic little growl of a film. For the
film to work, the kids and the aliens have to work, and
Cornish knocks both out of the park. Each kid is uniquely
their own character, parentless hooligans who’ve come
together to form the only kind of family they can recognize.
The aliens aren’t your usual glistening arachnid amphibian
beasts, but instead a sort of glowing-eyed bear monster,
who’s presence is marked by a warbling, almost silent whine
of sonar. They’re terrifying and threatening and pairing
characters you enjoy against truly scary monsters makes for
a wild ride.
The Lesson:
I only wish I could write more about this film, but my
disdainful thrashing of Cowboys And Aliens exhausted
my time and energy. Go see it though! Support fantastic
genre films and maybe we’ll actually see a few more of them.
- Noah Sanders
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