Attack the Block (2011)

A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.

Director:

Joe Cornish

Writer:

Joe Cornish

Stars:

Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 17 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jodie Whittaker	...	Sam
John Boyega	...	Moses
Alex Esmail	...	Pest
Leeon Jones	...	Jerome
Franz Drameh	...	Dennis
Simon Howard	...	Biggz
Maggie McCarthy	...	Margaret
Danielle Vitalis	...	Tia
Paige Meade	...	Dimples
Gina Antwi	...	Dionne
Natasha Jonas	...	Gloria
Sammy Williams	...	Probs
Michael Ajao	...	Mayhem
Luke Treadaway	...	Brewis
Flaminia Cinque	...	Italian Woman

Storyline

A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.

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Plot Keywords:

alien invasion | alien | motorcycle | car crash | violent youth | 

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Taglines:

Inner City vs. Outer Space

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

UK France

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

Napad na kvart

Filming Locations:

Heygate Estate, Southwark, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$137,580 (USA) (29 July 2011)

Gross:

$1,024,175 (USA) (23 September 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

StudioCanal, Film4, UK Film Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Members of the gang compare the film's aliens to various fantastical creatures, all British in origin, namely: Dobby the house-elf from J.K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels; Gollum from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien; and Gremlins, who while they are now best-known for the two American films by Joe Dante, were born out of the imagination of RAF fighter pilots during World War II, and were initially popularized by author Roald Dahl in his first novel.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sam: [on phone] Hi mum!

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Connections

References Pokémon (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Get That Snitch"
Lyrics by Doc Brown
Music by Mikis Michaelides
Performed by Jumayn Hunter and Mikis Michaelides

User Reviews

Not nearly as funny as it should have been

As a group of early teen gangsters are robbing a young woman, an alien crashed into a car nearby. The leader of the gang attacks the alien, gets some scratches in the process and then kills it. They kids take the alien corpse to their drug dealer boss. Little do they know that plenty of more aliens followed. Now they get attacked by a different kind of alien. Larger, hairier and with lots of glowing teeth. Now it's up to the kids to save their housing complex- called the Block with whatever rudimentary weapons they can find, some pistols, fireworks, machetes, and so on.

They realize under the blue light of the marijuana greenhouse that the leader of the gang is covered in some substance released by the first little alien and it's that what attracts all the other large aliens.

Attack the Block has a good idea, it's somewhat different, has neat special effects. The aliens at least look pretty amazing. Sure, little thugs aren't exactly the kind of characters you root for. But given the settings and the characters, this movie should be hilarious. It's disappointingly only mildly funny. In part because the main characters are just kids. I don't know what rating this movie got in the UK, but there's little here that justifies the US R rating. Had they taken advantage of that rating, it could have been a bit more edgy.