"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Monday, June 25, 2018

Countdown to Thirteen: Attack the Block (2011, R)


This movie’s been on my radar for a while, and it was definitely a Jodie Whittaker film I was looking forward to seeing.  I admit it doesn’t quite live up to my expectations, both on its own and as a Countdown to Thirteen entry, but the cast is strong and I like the creativity of it.



One night, aliens arrive in South London.  A tenacious band of teenage toughs take it upon themselves to defend their tower block from the otherworldly creatures.  Along the way, they find both friends and enemies, including a young nurse they’d mugged earlier in the evening.



I really like the idea of an alien-invasion story set in a working-class neighborhood, with a group of mostly-Black young heroes fighting for their lives while the experts are goodness-knows-where.  There are places where the film works its comparatively-novel setting to its favor:  the boys being just as eager to avoid the police as the aliens, one character suspecting the aliens were in fact set loose by the government to kill Black kids, etc.  I like the group dynamics between the boys – they have a strong back-and-forth together, jocular, determined, or terrified as the situation demands.  It’s fun to watch them speculate, problem-solve, improvise weapons, and generally be smart badasses in their mission to survive the night.



But I dunno.  I keep thinking it over, and it keeps falling just a bit short of what I want it to be.  I don’t fault it for the graphic violence or the slightly-DIY quality of the visual effects; it’s on the story level where it doesn’t quite come together.  The exploration of the themes feels a little too surfacy at points, and while the guys are excellently-watchable as a group, there’s not a huge amount of differentiation between them inidividually, whereas I feel most of the white characters are more clearly defined.  Not that they’re all necessarily what I’d most like to see, but I can easily tell you who they are and what they’re about.



Whittaker’s character, Sam, is a mixed bag.  Though not rich like the boys suspect, she is posher than any of them, and it’s clear she has her misgivings about living and working (as a nurse) in a rough neighborhood.  It’s her mugging that kicks off the story, and while her plot runs parallel to the boys’ for a bit, they eventually come together in the name of staying alive.



My biggest disappointment with Sam is that, even though she does start making good contributions to the plot, she spends about the first half of the film being of little use.  After her first encounter with the boys, I completely understand her being wary of them and don’t blame her for it.  What I take issue with is her resolute denial that what’s going on is alien, which continues way too long, and her general helplessness for a big chunk of the movie.  Like I said, I does come around more in the second half, so the film gets credit for that, but I don’t see why it has to take so long to get there.



The best reason to see the movie is John Boyega, who plays Moses, the gang’s leader.  This is one of Boyega’s very first projects, and he has a really engaging leading-man presence in the role.  The film also features the always-dependable Nick Frost, Franz Drameh (who’s since joined the Arrowverse as Jefferson Jackson,) and Luke Treadaway (who I remember from National Theatre Live’s recording of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.)



Recommend?



In General – Yes.  Despite its flaws, I do like it, and it’s terrific to see Boyega’s excellent work in one of his first roles.



Jodie Whittaker – Maybe, if only for the way Sam steps her game up in the second half.



Warnings



Tons of graphic violence, swearing, drug use, and thematic elements.

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