Attack the Block Information

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Attack the Block is a 2011 British science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish and starring John Boyega, Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, and Luke Treadaway. It was the film debut of Cornish, Boyega, and composer Steven Price.

The film centres on a teenage street gang who have to defend themselves from predatory alien invaders on a council estate in South London on Guy Fawkes Night. Released on 11 May 2011, it underperformed at the box office yet received fairly positive critical reviews and accolades internationally.

Plot

Walking home on Bonfire Night, Samantha Adams (Jodie Whittaker), a 25-year-old trainee nurse, is mugged by a small gang of teenage hoodlums: Pest (Alex Esmail); Dennis (Franz Drameh); Jerome (Leeon Jones); Biggz (Simon Howard); and leader Moses (John Boyega). The attack is interrupted when a meteorite falls from the sky into a nearby car, giving Samantha the chance to escape. As Moses searches the wreck of the car for valuables, his face is scratched by a pale, hairless, eyeless dog-sized creature; the object which fell from the sky was its cocoon. The creature runs away, but the gang chase and kill it. Hoping to gain fame and fortune, they take the corpse to their acquaintance, cannabis dealer Ron (Nick Frost), to get advice on what to do. He lives at the top of their tower block, Wyndham Tower.

Moses asks Ron and his boss, Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter), to keep the creature in their fortified "weed room" while he decides how to proceed. More objects fall from the sky. Eager to fight the creatures, the gang arm themselves and go to the nearest crash site. However, they find these aliens are much larger, with spiky fur which is so black it reflects no light, huge claws and rows of glowing fangs. The aliens kill their dog too. Fleeing the aliens, the gang are intercepted by two policemen and Moses is arrested, identified as the mugger by Samantha. The aliens, following Moses, maul the unarmed officers to death and attack their van, leaving Samantha and Moses trapped inside. Dennis reaches the vehicle and drives the police van away, only to crash into a surprised Hi-Hatz's car. Samantha runs away while the rest of Moses's gang catch up and confront Hi-Hatz and his henchman

Enraged by the damage to his car, Hi-Hatz threatens them with a gun, refusing to believe their story of aliens, until his henchman is attacked by one, allowing the gang to escape. The gang try to flee to Wyndham Tower but are again followed and attacked en route by the aliens, where Biggz is forced to hide in a recycling bin and Pest is severely bitten in the leg. They find that Samantha lives in their building, force their way into her flat, and persuade her to treat Pest's leg. An alien bursts in and Moses kills it with a samurai sword through the head. Understanding that the group was not lying about the creatures being extraterrestrial, Samantha reasons that it is safer to stay with the gang than on her own and joins them. The gang moves upstairs to the flat owned by Tia (Danielle Vitalis), Dimples (Paige Meade), Dionna (Gina Antwi), and Gloria (Natasha Jonas), believing that their security gate will keep them safe. The aliens instead attack from outside, climbing up the side of the tower block and smashing through the windows, one of whom decapitates Dennis.

After Samantha saves Moses' life from one of the aliens, the girls believe them to be the focus of the creatures and kick them out of the flat. In the hall, the gang are attacked by Hi-Hatz and more henchmen. The gang escapes while an alien chases Hi-Hatz and a couple of henchmen into a lift. Hi-Hatz kills the alien, although his henchmen are killed, and continues his search for Moses. Making their way upstairs to Ron's weed room, the gang runs into more aliens, but using fireworks as a distraction, they manage to get through. Jerome, however, becomes disoriented in the smoke and is killed by an alien. Entering Ron's flat they find that Hi-Hatz is already there and has been waiting for them. Hi-Hatz prepares to shoot Moses but hordes of aliens smash through the window and kill him. Now joined by Brewis (Luke Treadaway), one of Ron's customers, Moses, Pest and Samantha retreat into the weed room, while Ron hides in the flat.

Biggz, still trapped in the bin by a lurking alien, is saved by two unruly children, Probs (Sammy Williams) and Mayhem (Michael Ajao), using a water-gun filled with petrol and a flame to torch the creature from a safe distance. In the weed room, Brewis notices a luminescent stain on Moses' jacket under the ultraviolet light. As a zoology student, Brewis theorises that the aliens are like spores, drifting through space on solar winds until they chance on a suitable planet. After landing in an area with enough food, the female lets off a strong pheromone which will attract the male creatures to it so that they can mate and propagate their species in their new world. Brewis suggests that the smaller, hairless alien which Moses killed in the beginning was such a female, and it had left a mating scent on Moses that the larger male aliens have been tracking throughout the evening. The gang form a plan for Samantha, who has not been stained with the pheromone, to go to Moses's flat and turn on the gas oven.

Moses forces Pest to return the ring they stole from her, feeling guilty for having mugged her. Samantha successfully avoids the aliens, turns on the gas, and leaves the block. Moses, with the dead female alien strapped to his back, rushes out of the weed room and into his flat, while the males converge on the scent and chase Moses through the block. Inside his flat he throws the female into the kitchen and the males follow. Using fireworks, Moses ignites the gas-filled room and leaps out of the window. The explosion engulfs the flat and the aliens, but Moses survives, clinging to a Union Jack hanging from the side of the building. In the aftermath, Moses, Pest, Brewis, and Ron are arrested and held responsible for the deaths around the block, including the two officers who had earlier arrested Moses. Samantha, however, comes to their defence. In the back of the police van, Moses and Pest hear the residents of the block cheering for Moses.

Cast

Representative of the film's plot and location, most of the cast were young, relative unknowns, and local to the area. According to the DVD's making-of featurette, the teenagers were selected from drama classes of London council estate schools, and then had to go through eight auditions before being offered a part. John Boyega found out about this film from an ad placed on the internet. The cast includes:

• John Boyega as Moses, a quiet and loyal teenage gang leader and orphan looking for respect around the block.
• Jodie Whittaker as Samantha Adams, a trainee nurse and new resident of Wyndham Tower.
• Alex Esmail as Pest, a teenage jokester and second in command of Moses's gang.
• Franz Drameh as Dennis, a hotheaded pizza delivery boy and the enforcer of the gang.
• Leeon Jones as Jerome, a schoolboy and the most level headed member of the gang.
• Simon Howard as Biggz, the youngest member of the gang. Throughout most of the film, Biggz is trapped in a dumpster after he's cornered by the aliens.
• Nick Frost as Ron, the local drug dealer who lives in the penthouse of Wyndham Tower and knows everyone.
• Luke Treadaway as Brewis, a student stoner who's one of Ron's customers.
• Jumayn Hunter as Hi-Hatz, the local psychopathic gangster who's Ron's feared boss.
• Danielle Vitalis as Tia, a girl living in Wyndham Tower who's Moses's love interest and friend to the gang.
• Paige Meade as Dimples, Tia's quick tempered roommate who is also a friend to the gang.
• Sammy Williams as Probs, a little kid who wishes to join Moses's gang.
• Michael Ajao as Mayhem, Probs's best friend who shares his goal of joining Moses's gang.

Production

Big Talk Pictures, known for films including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, produced the film alongside Film4, The UK Film Council, and StudioCanal.

The plot was inspired by an event where the director was mugged himself, and after adding the science fiction angle into the plot, Joe Cornish interviewed various kids in youth groups in order to find out what kind of weapons they would use if a real alien invasion occurred. Cornish also based the character of the stoner Brewis on himself in his twenties.

Filming

Attack the Block is set in a fictional neighbourhood said in-film to be located in the London district of Brixton. It is actually a composite of various council estates across London. Director Cornish explains:

We wanted to stamp a clear layout on the audience's minds early, and since we couldn't afford to show an aerial shot of the estate as it doesn't exist, the way to show it was by showing this top shot of the map at the very beginning of the film.

The name Wyndham Estates appears on the left of the entrance to the fictional block, referencing the English science-fiction writer John Wyndham. The science fiction writer J. G. Ballard is also referenced by one of the street names; Ballard wrote a number of novels set in large urban blocks. The film was shot across London from March to May 2010, with 6 weeks of night shoots on the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle; Myatts Field, Brixton; Oval Underground station and the Bemerton Estate in Islington. Interior scenes were filmed at Three Mills Studios in Newham, part of the East End of London.

Creature effects

The creatures began with two men in gorilla-like suits with animatronic jaws; post-production added the unearthly qualities such as the spiky fur which doesn't reflect any light, the claws, the rows of bioluminescent jaws, and even some of their movement. In total the film features over 100 effects shots, which were completed over the course of 4 months by Swedish effects house, Fido. The creatures have no eyes, and hunt and find mates using an extremely evolved sense of smell; their movement is enabled mainly through echolocation. According to the DVD commentary, the echolocation noises made by the creatures were a combination of dolphin sonar mixed digitally with the grunts and snarls of dozens of other animals, and even a woman screaming. Some puppets were used, such as the smaller, hairless female alien which terrified the young cast.

Release

Theatrical

StudioCanal's British distribution company Optimum Releasing released the film in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2011. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired this film's United States distribution rights, and the group opened this film in limited theatrical release in the United States on 29 July 2011 through Screen Gems. US distributors were concerned that American audiences might not understand the strong South London accents, and may have even used subtitles if it were to be released in the United States. Cornish acknowledged this during the SXSW Q and A. When he asked the audience, "Can I ask you guys something? American distributors are nervous about language, the slang" the audience said they could understand it.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on 19 September 2011 and in the United States on 25 October 2011. Play.com have an exclusive Blu-ray and DVD double play edition, with a glow-in-the-dark sleeve, featuring the bio-luminescent jaws of one of the creatures.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was an original score composed by British electronic music group Basement Jaxx, and Steven Price except for a few songs featured in the film but not on the soundtrack (such as the 1993 rap track "Sound of da Police" by KRS-One, and the 2006 reggae track "Youths Dem Cold" by Richie Spice, played during the end credits).

During Evan Sawdey's interview with the duo for PopMatters, he mentioned the album as an "obscure soundtrack placement that only hardcore aficionados found out about."

In 2018 I Am Shark reissued the soundtrack on a 2xLP vinyl pressing featuring exclusive written commentaries from Joe Cornish and Steven Price. The album packaging represents the monsters with glow in the dark teeth on the labels and glow colored vinyl.

The original Attack the Block soundtrack by Basement Jaxx and Steven Price features the following tracks:

1. "The Block"
2. "Sam is Mugged"
3. "Round Two Bruv"
4. "It"?s Raining Gollums"
5. "Tooling Up"
6. "Moses is Arrested"
7. "Tell Me I"?m Dreaming"
8. "Throat Ripper"
9. "Rooftops"
10. "Moses - Ninja"
11. "Just Another Day"
12. "They Want Moses"
13. "Actions Have Consequences"
14. "Eat My Hat"
15. "They Fell Out of the Sky"
16. "I Need to Finish What I Started"
17. "Turn the Gas Up"
18. "Moses vs. The Monsters"
19. "Moses the Hero"
20. "The Ends"

A rap song called "Get That Snitch", original to the film and rapped by the character Hi-Hatz, is featured at various times in the film. The full song was featured on the DVD special features.

The score and soundtrack album was mixed by Gareth Cousins.

Reception

Box office

On its opening theatrical weekend in the United Kingdom in May 2011, Attack the Block garnered 1,133,859, putting it in third place only slightly behind American blockbusters Thor and Fast Five; also in the opening weekend Attack the Block had the highest cinema site average by almost twice of the other films. On a screen-by-screen basis, Attack the Block was the week's strongest performer. The North American theatrical run began in July 2011 and was only a limited release, yet despite being shown for less than two months and in only 66 cinemas at its peak, the film grossed $1,024,175 (659,040) on its American theatrical run.

Critical response

Attack the Block received acclaim from critics. Review aggregation Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 90% based on 172 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Effortlessly mixing scares, laughs, and social commentary, Attack the Block is a thrilling, brisky-paced sci-fi yarn with a distinctly British flavor." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The website Slash film lists Attack the Block as a "true cult classic" deserving of its own action figures. In his review, Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert praised the film's use of character development and the performance given by Boyega. Scott Wampler of The Examiner rated it A+ and said it was officially the best film of the 2011 film festival season and likened it to other debuts such as Neill Blomkamp's District 9 and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Matt Patches writing for Cinemablend said "Attack the Block, even on its small scale, may wind up as one of the best action movies of the year". Christ Tilly at IGN gave it four stars saying "Cornish directs with the confidence of a seasoned pro" and calling the film "a blast from start-to-finish." Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy awarded the movie four stars, saying that it is "exactly the kind of distinctly homegrown product that the British film industry should be making". Mark Kermode gave a mixed review saying he did not dislike the film, but "wanted it to be funnier" and "needed it to be scarier".

Attack the Block was revisited by critics following the casting of its two lead actors as stars of flagship science fiction franchises - Boyega as Finn in Star Wars and Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor in Doctor Who. In a 2017 retrospective, Tom Philip writing for GQ described the film as "one of the most confidently-delivered debut feature films in recent memory" and said it "still stands out as one of the best genre-mashup films of the decade", while Nathan Rabin for Rotten Tomatoes said that the film deserved cult status and called it "a star-making vehicle in the truest sense".

Accolades

• Audience Award for Best Film (Midnights) at SXSW 2011
• Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival
• Audience Award for Best European or American Feature at the 2011 Fantasia Festival
• Melies d'Argent for Best European Fantastic Feature Film 2011 at the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival
• Muut Award for Best Visual Concept at the 2011 Miskolc International Film Festival
• Bassan Arts and Crafts Award for Best Production Design at the Torino Film Festival 2011
• Golden Mouse Online Critics Award for Best Film at the Torino Film Festival 2011
• Best Debut Director at the 2011 New York Film Critics Online Awards
• Best First Feature at the 2011 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
• Best Original Soundtrack at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival
• Special Jury Award at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival
• Audience Award for Best Motion Picture at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival
• Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival
• Special Mention at the 2011 Black Film Critics Circle Awards: "Attack The Block is a genre film that defies a number of conventions, not only by having a primarily black cast but portraying each character with a dignity seldom seen on screen and even more rarely in a Science-Fiction film."
• Best First Film at the 2011 Austin Film Critics Association Awards
• Best Original Score at the 2011 Austin Film Critics Association Awards
• Best Actor to John Boyega at the 2011 Black Reel Awards
• Outstanding Foreign Film at the 2011 Black Reel Awards