A teen gang must defend the block they all live in when an alien invasion happens!
Now with this film I really do remember when it was released at the cinema but for some reason I didn't actually go and see it. When I saw it on Amazon Video last week I knew I had to catch up, but something that really surprised me was that the film is from 2011! It certainly does not feel that long ago that this film was released. I know it pretty much launched John Boyega on his way to superstardom not forgetting Jodie Whittaker is also in it too!
Anyway the story is pretty simple a teenage gang is causing chaos and they mugged Sam who also lives in the building, which led to Moses being arrested he is the leader of the gang. But when everything escalates very quickly I must add the group must fight to protect the block and everyone they care about that it inside it. Against some huge hairy and very strange-looking aliens, which have an unreal amount of teeth.
It balances the comedy aspects very well with the sci-fi and action, which surprisingly from my point of view makes a rather impressive small film. As I will admit that I wasn't expecting to like anything about it at all to be brutally honest, which is probably why I didn't actually see it on its cinema release. I think from watching this though it is clear to see why Boyega and Whittaker have gone on to do a lot more and I would even include Luke Treadaway in that bracket as well, having seen him on stage in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf earlier this year.
This is a perfect film to watch with low expectations, as that was my approach to it and I was left feeling pretty impressed with it from start to finish. It doesn't have a very long running time either so that is something that can be seen as a plus as well. It dared to be a little bit different and off the wall. Showing how South London gangs can actually help a community I guess is another factor. So I do respect that they went for a different approach with an alien attack film, especially when we didn't have to wait like an hour to see the alien, we get a glimpse pretty much straight away.
I am pretty interested to see what others thought of this film now I have caught up. I do like British films like this though and I hope we get to see them as they are different from the big blockbusters in similar genres which try to bring something new to the alien genre. Harmless fun really which is certainly what you want from films every now and then not too serious and not taking itself too seriously either. So a very decent cast and funny moments make for easy carefree viewing from start to finish.
