Attack the Block, a UK movie released in 2011 under direction of Joe Cornish (who also wrote the screenplay) and starring Alex Esmail, Jodie Whittaker and John Boyega, is movie about a group of London teenage thugs that end up in the middle of an alien attack and must battle to defend their block from evil creatures from another planet.
Approached by the gang of teenage thugs, they rob Sam (Jodie Whittaker) as she walks through a rough crime infested neighborhood in London. A burst of light comes crashing down from the sky and demolishes a nearby automobile. Startled and frightened, during all the commotion she escapes the rubble just before a supernatural creature arises from the debris, attacks and wounds Moses (John Boyega), the leader of the gang.
Moses and his boys kill the creature and bring it to the neighborhood drug house, run by a cold blooded gangster named Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter). Thinking they could possible profit from this rare creature, they ask Hi-Hatz if they can store it in his “weed room” for safe keeps. Hi-Hatz agrees provided that Moses starts selling cocaine for him in exchange. Moses agrees to the deal.
While Sam gets the assistance from the police to pursue her assailants, strange lights begin to pour down from the sky signally the arrival of a second wave of more ferocious creatures.
In the climax of Attack the Block, the city is under siege by the alien creatures and there is no place to run. Sam quickly realizes that she is going to have to fight for survival. Again, she crosses paths with the tough teenage thugs but decides that instead of running away from them, she will stand and battle to the bitter end with them. As Moses becomes the aliens’ prime target, his boys arm themselves with baseball bats, high powered fireworks, swords, machetes, cricket bats, switchblades and anything else they can find that will help them in the battle of their lives.
Who knew that all along, hidden away in the “weed room”, held the key to defeating the aliens? Attack the Block takes these rebellious teenagers on a journey from the hood to heroes and during the epic battle an unlikely hero emerges to save the human race.
The movie has been nominated for a large number of awards and amongst many won in 2011 the Austin Film Critics Association Award in the “Best First Film (Joe Cornish)” and “Best Original Score (Steven Price)” categories as well as in 2012 the BAFTA Awards for “Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer (Joe Cornish)”.
