review by David Valkenet
Attack the Block 2011
Watched Mar 14, 2012
David Valkenet’s review:
...it was alright.
The music was great. It was so good in fact that it elevated some of the images and almost tricked me into thinking the film as a whole was better than it is. I also loved that the film took roughly 2 minutes to get started and was pretty relentless from then on.
However, the thing that annoyed me was the script, the acting and the line delivery. The acting was pretty mediocre (Nick Frost, the guy who played Moses, the girl and the two very young kids excepted). I hesitate to blame the actors, but rather, I think the lines they were given were bad overall and cringe-worthy in places. Not quite on par with Juno as far as cringe-worthy dialogue, but definitely nudging at her.
That really let the film down for me. I know the dialogue was meant to be authentic and I'm not criticising it for that, or the accents, but actually seeing the characters saying the words was an awkward experience for me.
It also didn't help that I hated most of the characters, and that I was meant to root for the kinds of people that would mug you and laugh in your face. I don't care if they're young or a product of their environment, they're fucking assholes.
Also, anything involving fireworks looked like really ugly CGI, especially the scene towards the end.
For this reason the ending fell completely flat, and left me with a bad aftertaste. Sorry, but this is not for me.
I really liked this film, but I also had no issues liking he characters (eventually). I think more than almost any other movie, it really does depend on whether you can look past the character's flaws to be able to enjoy it. I suppose it might help me that I live in Romford and have grown up surrounded by people like these my whole life and, if I'm honest, have probably even counted one or two of them amongst my friends in my youth.
...well we agree on the score at least lol! Thought the Basement Jaxx fellas did a much more memorable job here than the much-trumpeted Chemical Brothers score for Hanna...
I have heard people say that by the end of the film they grew to like the characters but unfortunately I didn't have the same reaction.
As for Attack the Block v. Hanna, I must say that I have started Hanna and I am struggling to build up the enthusiasm to return to it an finish it. Although what I heard of the music was good, I also preferred this score.
I'm with Liam on this one. I didn't grow up in Romford but the kids are pretty much like what you get anywhere inside and around the M25, albeit with added comedy. I thought it was a solid film, and pretty awesome to feature a cast of nearly all non-white teenagers as leads (and it's to the film's credit that they weren't either demonised or fluffed up with some sort of PC "poor little estate kids" characterisations). Joe Cornish done good with this. And the music was brilliant.