89% Attack the Block

All Critics (130) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (117) | Rotten (14) | DVD (4)

Attack the Block attacks the alien invasion genre with wit, energy and a cheeky insolence that makes it out of this world.

An energetic genre ride with social ambitions about race and class.

"Attack the Block" demands to be seen simply because it is a thrill - a pulse-raiser whose perfect construction and pointed wit make it one of the year's most exciting films.

The movie's amateurishly made. But the script is full of little surprises.

It's exciting, and there is plenty of gore for fans of that sort of thing, but one wishes the mix of horror and comedy leaned a little more to the horror side of the equation.

It's a doozy, offering tight and imaginative camerawork, electric thrills, and a sharp, twisty script that plays like a social satire.

There isn't a single thing I would change about the film's brisk 88-minute running time.

This year's best tribute to E.T.

Pits street kids against aliens in a fast-paced battle

Like a Brit Joe Dante, debuting writer-director Joe Cornish both respects and rattles the genre, and he transforms his low budget into a virtue.

(I)t's the ready reinvention of the whole alien invasion conceit that becomes Attack the Block's greatest artistic contribution.

Employs its sci-fi tale to wrestle with issues of race and class structure -- the sort of deep thought lost on Hollywood kingpins like Michael Bay, whose idea of sensitive racial exploration was to create Amos 'n' Andy robots for that Transformers flick.

Few movies this year have been as all-out fun to watch as this one.

The coolest part of "Attack the Block" is how it does a switcheroo with the thugs, initially encouraging us to think they're rotters and then showing us there's more to them than meets the eye.

Cornish makes a feature debut here that's almost as stunning as when his pal (and executive producer) Edgar Wright invaded the cineplex with "Shaun of the Dead."

Attack the Block wants us to believe that its heroes aren't all that bad . . . once you've given them your wallet.

A throwback monster movie made by people who clearly adore the films they're referencing.

So if you only go see one movie this weekend, please make it Attack the Block. See it twice in fact. Let's encourage good filmmaking.

Here is a shaggy monster movie that pulls double-duty as a satire of class and ethnic barriers, and how those barriers quickly disappear when we are forced to fight for our simple survival.

While it lacks originality, Attack the Block zooms along with energy and deadpan humor.

One of the greater imports to hit America since "Shaun of the Dead."

Attack the Block has a cast of nobodies, the cheesiest special effects this side of Velveeta, and it's the best sci-fi movie you'll see this summer.

The inky, somewhat shapeless beings aren't any scarier than your typical Muppet. Which is kind of a problem when you're offering an R-rated thriller.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/attack_the_block/

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