This movie has the guise of being about an alien invasion, but it's more about overcoming prejudices and coming of age. Don't believe me? Then consider this question one of the characters ask. Out of all the places in the world for aliens to land, why would they pick a poor neighborhood in London? Obviously to set up some hilarity and absurd scenarios, but the real point is for our little hoodlums to become heroes. Okay, I'm exaggerating quite a bit; this film is pretty light, but that's okay. I don't mind light. I don't even mind if it's a little bad. I just like to be entertained and Attack the Block, for all its flaws and silliness, is entertaining.
The film opens with a group of teenage hoods mugging a woman in a sketchy neighborhood of London. Just as things may look to get a little too sour for the damsel in distress, a meteor-like object falls from the sky and smashes into a car next to them allowing her to escape. Despite everything the teens may have seen in horror movies, they check it out and SURPRISE! a scary werewolf looking alien pops out. But little does the alien know that it just f*cked with the wrong bunch of kids from the wrong block in the wrong hood. I'm sure it must be quite a shock to it when these kids start chasing it with bats and knives rather than run away.
The irony of the film is that in the midst of this alien invasion, nobody even seems to notice or care that a bunch of werewolf alien hybrids are roaming the streets. The police are more concerned with catching the thugs that mugged the woman and arresting them for the wrong reasons. (The expression is charged for "driving while black.") The woman sees two police officers mauled to death by these otherworldly creatures and assumes the thugs must have had something to do with it. The local crime lord doesn't seem to realize the severity of this situation and instead focuses in on the young kids who smashed his ride. It is up to the young teens then to save the day.
The woman that they mugged eventually joins them as she is reminded "We're all on the same side here" when it comes to the aliens. Obviously they grow to understand and maybe even respect each other and maybe in some other circumstance or scenario they could have been friends. But of course we know that's not true. Without the alien attack, she would just go on clutching her purse a little tighter when walking by a group of black kids and the kids would still see her as another easy mark. There's nothing that unites people together more than a common enemy or shared tragedy. Take America's national pride during WW2 and 9/11 as examples. Unfortunately it usually takes these extraordinary circumstances for people to drop their prejudices and come together.
Oh, as for the movie itself? It's kind of scary, kind of funny, kind of corny (something Cowboys vs. Aliens should have purposely been), obviously ridiculous, and surprisingly deserving of its R rating. I hesitate to say that it is a really fun movie because it isn't quite as outrageous as you'd assume, but it is still silly enough to have a good time.
Grade: B-
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