Attack the Block

ACTION; 1hr 28min

STARRING: John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker


Young blades: from left, Boyega, Whittaker and Luke Treadaway

If aliens can rock up in the Wild West and do battle with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford (in 2011's Cowboys & Aliens), there’s no earthly reason why they can’t crash into a housing estate in South London, either. Not only are Attack the Block ’s invading beasts a warmongering bunch, they’re dead scary with their tiered fangs, wolfish, demonic eyes and black, electro-shock spiky black fur. And the crowning irony is that the Block’s sole line of defence is a gang of five teenage hooligans, led by surly-britches Moses (Boyega), who, after mugging an innocent nurse (Whittaker), make the cardinal mistake of killing the advance ET arrival.

 

Writer and first-time feature director Joe Cornish builds on the grunge of actual locations to ramp up the bare-bones suspense. Sinewy, creepy and wacky, with bluntly credible performances and a redemptive moral spine as Moses steps up to hero status, this nifty missile from the Shaun of the Dead production team storms out swinging.