Attack The Block Is The Best Film Of The Summer (And Maybe The Year)

"Attack The Block" is about a group of lower class london teenagers who fight an alien menace invading their low income housing project. If the words teenagers and aliens bring you back to this summer's other kid alien flick "Super 8" that's good, you should definitely have "Super 8" in your brain so it can be properly destroyed by the kick-ass power of this flick. This is the film that "Super 8" wanted to be.

Written and directed by Joe Cornish (who co-wrote the upcoming "Tintin") the film excels at creating a world for the viewer to live in. The kids, lead by breakout star John Boyega as "Moses" are part of a pack, you might even call it a gang, and they speak in a thick British accent (subtitles were once considered for the US release). They swear, talk that bullshit with each other, and know that the aliens on the block are just as dangerous as the untrustworthy police or the local drug dealers. Luckily they're equipped to deal the alien threat with weapons including, baseball bats, samurai swords, fireworks, machetes, supersoakers, motorbikes, and ice-skates. In the words of one character before he fights the space invaders - "I'm shitting myself in it' but at the same time, this is sick."

Yet, film transcends it's genre roots because Cornish isn't afraid to show us what lurks behind our young protagonists. There are many elements swirling behind the action here and they include such things as the problems of race, gender, and class that afflict London and the world at this moment. In a perfect stroke, Cornish reveals a semi- key detail about a main character in the grand finale and it's sad, intense and jarring, but he doesn't linger on it, he just presents us with the facts, and pulls us right back into the story. This is different from J.J. Abrams "Super 8" a film that "Attack The Block" has to be compared to. Where Abrams seemed to be burdened by some type of nerd serfdom to the bearded master, Cornish pays Spielberg homage with his tight focused story and creature thrills. There are solid un-forced emotional beats here that Abrams can only drool over...and there is also awesome action and excitement. Oh did I mention that "Attack the Block" was made for pennies compared to "Super 8."

"Attack The Block" is hands down the must see film of the summer and shit...it's my favorite film of the year so far. And yeah I know it may be hard to believe it cause you scroll through these pages and see my praising "Transformers," but all I gotta say it you got' believe me fam! This is entertainment that makes you think, makes you afraid, makes you laugh, and makes you bask in awe of the power of the filmaking. Believe!