What do you get when you make a movie combining an alien invasion, an extremely localized one at that, and that locale being a lower income housing development in South London with a teenaged street gang?  You get Attack the Block (2011).  I really do not have any other kind of snappy introduction.  I found it while looking through somebody’s list of twenty good movies under ninety minutes that I found on the internet.  Many of them they discussed are ones already reviewed for The Legionnaire.  Thus, I went with the first one I saw that was not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), which happened to be Attack the Block.  This is what one gets for trusting the internet.

Before we meet the aforementioned gang, Attack the Block introduces us to Samantha Adams (Jodie Whitaker).  She is on her way home from her nurse training program, and complaining to her mother about her problems.  They are about to get worse when the aforementioned teenagers corner her near their building, led by Moses (John Boyega).  While the others cut off her escape, he steps close to her and demands her valuables, pressing a knife to her body for emphasis.  As the money and phone are being handed over, an object from the sky smashes into a nearby car.  Samantha runs off while the kids investigate the wreckage, looking for more stuff to steal.  Before he can get far, a creature lunges out at Moses, scratching his face before running off into the night.  He is not one to take kindly to such offenses, and he and his friends take off in search of it.  They corner it in a shed and kill it, dragging its corpse through the streets as a souvenir they think will make them rich.  They reason this after finally accepting that it is an alien.  The place they bring it to is Ron’s (Nick Frost) apartment, which is in the so-called penthouse section of Wyndham Tower, the building that takes up the eponymous location.  They want to keep it there for safekeeping, in the somehow impregnable “weed room,” but Ron says that decision is not up to him.  Inside the chamber containing a number of marijuana plants is Ron’s boss, Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter), who is the person who runs the illicit trade in the area.  Moses seeks to curry favor with Hi-Hatz.  Thus, once the criminal kingpin agrees to hold on to the extra-terrestrial body, he offers Moses the opportunity to sell more drugs.  Before heading back outside, they witness more meteorites landing in the neighborhood.  Thinking it an opportunity to do more violence to other-worldly visitors, they gather a number of makeshift weapons and go looking for the creatures.  Instead of the smaller, gray-skinned one with which they previously tangled, they are met by ones that are roughly the size of bears but have many characteristics of wolves, with dark, spiky black fur, no eyes, and glowing teeth.  They are not prepared for this development, and beat a hasty retreat . . . only to be intercepted by the police, who, along with Samantha, are out looking for their band.  Moses is arrested, but as he is being cuffed, a group of these monsters finds them.  He and Samantha end up in the car alone while the cops are eaten, but they are eventually joined by the rest.  Not wanting to stick around to become the next meal, they take off in the police van.  In their frantic escape back to Wyndham Tower, they run into Hi-Hatz in his car, who is none too pleased by the accident.  Before he can exact revenge, another of the creatures finds them, giving the teenagers, joined by Samantha, a window to get away.  They take refuge in her place, but not before one of her original assailants, Pest (Alex Esmail), is bitten in the leg.  Seeing that they are just as scared as she is, she helps bandage the wound.  She also sees Moses’ leadership come out, especially when he dispatches another alien that somehow had found its way to her flat.  With her home no longer seeming safe, our group decides to go further up in the building, to Tia’s (Danielle Vitalis) apartment, a girl known to the gang.  This, too, proves to be no kind of refuge, particularly when the monsters are able to climb up the side of the edifice.  Thus, they decide to flee to the one secure place they can think of: the weed room.  Unfortunately, this is where Hi-Hatz is waiting for them, who greets them shortly after Nick lets them inside.  This time, it is the aliens that save them, who make quick work of the criminal while Moses and company barricade themselves.  They are joined by Brewis (Luke Treadaway), a customer of Ron’s who happened to be there at the time.  Despite being high, he comes up with the theory that the aliens are attracted to pheromones in the blood of the original creature they killed.  Moses, since he is covered with the highest amount of monster blood, seems to be their main target.  Thus, he comes up with a plan to take care of this invasion in one go, since they all seem to be conveniently congregating in Ron’s flat.  Making sure Samantha is pheromone free, she slips down to Moses’ apartment, turns on all the gas, and gets out.  Then, with the first dead extra-terrestrial strapped to his back, Moses lures them down to his trap, lights the gas, and is next seen dangling from a balcony.  Unfortunately, the police want to pin it all him.  What saves him from jail is Samantha, who tells the authorities that they both live in the same building and that he is a good guy.

Given the activities we see Moses get into in the first half of Attack the Block, I am not sure I would refer to him as a “good guy.”  Between drug dealing and muggings, I think there are better modes of behavior.  Still, his character makes the movie, saving it from being a worse one when you consider the odd premise.  To put it differently, he has an arc, and it is that transformation that attracts my Catholic attention.  One of the two notes I took while watching this turkey relates to the moment that Moses realizes that actions have consequences.  This is an “Amazing Grace” instance, the moment he first believes.  He had been living the life of a budding criminal, and at one point it is suggested that his home circumstances are partially to blame for this turn.  Since I am writing this on the Feast of St. Stephen, it bears mentioning that it was the Apostle Paul who had a similar epiphany, which is a great word to use during the Christmas season.  Jesus appeared to him in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, with Jesus asking in verse four why He is being persecuted.  Paul, then Saul, was present at St. Stephen’s martyrdom, in case you were wondering about the connection.  At any rate, when you engage in the kinds of activities as does Moses early on in the film, you, too are persecuting Jesus.  He is found in all of us, of course, but particularly in the victim.  With all the bad things that begin happening to Moses, he realizes that he is partially to blame.  Granted, the real explanation in the film has to do with some nonsense about blood and pheromones.  All the same, while there is ultimate recompense for your actions, this generally happens less temporally.

There is a lot about Attack the Block that is, frankly, silly.  I chose it, like I said, because it is short.  Also, you need to be able to understand some thick British slang.  If you can put up with these things, then I would still say not to see it.