John Boyega in Attack The Block. Photo / YouTube
Brit director Joe Cornish has given the alien invasion genre a good kick in the shins with his indie debut feature.
As funny as it is scary, and with a pumped-up soundtrack featuring Basement Jaxx, Attack the Block successfully pulls together elements of comedy, horror, action and sci-fi into a
taut 88 minutes. It's a relatively simple premise, a gang of tough teens from Brixton must defend their turf on the council estate from a rival mob - except this rival gang comes from space.
The film kicks off with the cocky teens, led by Moses (Boyega), mugging a young woman only to be interrupted by a strange dog-like creature that has fallen out of the sky. Moses takes it personally, tracking it down and killing it. It's the first of a wave of aliens invading the block.
We have no idea where they're from or why they've come. They're revealed to us slowly as we hear them and see their bright blue neon teeth fleetingly light up the night.
Stylistically they sit well in this street setting - they could have leapt out of a comic book or been inspired by a Banksy graffiti image.
