ATTACK THE BLOCK trailer review

The directorial debut of Adam and Joe's taller, saner half? Yes please...

Let's be honest, who doesn't love Adam and Joe? When their 6 Music radio show went on hiatus last year to allow Joe to go off and direct his first film, I couldn't help but think to myself that he better make sure he delivered the goods, less he feel the wrath of the shows elite fan collective, The Black Squadron. Luckily from the footage that's included here Attack The Block looks like a pretty interesting debut feature, if a slightly unexpected path for Joe to take.


The story of a bunch of hoodies surviving an Alien invasion in Sarf Lahndan isn't exactly what I expected to be the first film from the delightfully middle-class Mr Cornish, although there's clearly a lot of humour mixed in with the gang warfare elements. It's also a bit of a departure from the fan appreciation that set apart the Adam and Joe TV show, but then I guess the animated Star Wars figurines have been done to death now (Robot Chicken owes Adam and Joe a lot. A LOT), so it was probably time for Joe to try something new for his first official foray into cinema. Kidulthood meets War of the Worlds? Why not.


I've been following the progress of this film since it started shooting, but I honestly didn't realise that Nick Frost was in the film until he popped up in this trailer, and although he appears fairly often here it's probably just a cameo being beefed up via the magic of trailer editing. What it does have is a fairly young cast of characters that ordinarily may make you want to cross the street, but I'm sure we'll be cheering for when the film gets released. It makes a change for the hoodies to be the heroes for once, and as Nick Frost's character says in the trailer, "they're quite sweet really".


Not much is shown of the aforementioned alien species, but it looks like they've used a mixture of live action puppeteering and CGI beasties to achieve the scares. I've got some reservations about how the CGI looks, and hope it avoids the British film trappings of looking too 'Doctor Who-ish'. I'm not criticising it outright, as I'd like to see more before I make my mind up. Early reports for the film are good, and seeing as it's directed by Joe Cornish, Attack The Block is one of my most anticipated films of the year.


Due 13th May
Anticipation Level