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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