I'm totally on the other side of the fence with
Attack The Block.
Sure, there are nods to Carpenter, especially the premise and a few visual references, but I think Cornish does a sterling job of making the film his own, in much the same way that Edgar Wright filled
Shaun of the Dead and
Hot Fuzz with witty and pertinent references to the movies that influenced him, but these never drown out their own directorial styles and more importantly doesn't affect the storytelling.
Yeh, the cast are the usual archetypes from pretty much any contemporary British film portraying inner city youths, but the actors and a good script filled these
Kidulthoodesque characters with a sense of believability and I think most people's problems with them is the fact that the audience are asked to side with a group of kids who are introduced as muggers and in this country the media have done no favours in endearing the nation's youth to our hearts. It's probably more common for British film viewers to accept the 'gangsta youths' of LA in films like
Boyz in the Hood and
Menace II Society as they are far emoved from their comfort zone. Of course this doesn't apply to all audiences, but it's something to consider.
I thought one of the best performances was from the 'definitely' evil gangster, the drug dealing, gun-toting rude boy who also threw in an extraordinarily convincing performance in the equally excellent
Cherry Tree Lane.
And the alien design is hands down for me, the best alien design that I've seen in a very very long time. The almost comic book style design was well executed and the blacker than black blackness reminded me of Disaster Area's ship in Douglas Adam's
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and we can't pretend there was a Cameron-like budget for this film, with what money they had I think they pulled it off superbly.
Of course this is just my opinion
