If we’re to believe the movies, Earth may be the single most sought-after address in the galaxy. Creatures from beyond the stars are constantly making cinematic pit-stops here for purposes ranging from, “Howdy, neighbors,” to “My, don’t you all look tasty!” This week finds two hostile forces taking over American theaters, and though the basic story beats of the alien invasion genre are intact in both, their settings and results could hardly be more different.
The beasties in both Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block and Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens are inclined to subtle infiltration, as opposed to the park-massive-spacecraft-above-major-city approach of those in Independence Day or District 9. In Block, they arrive in the housing projects of South London in meteor-like pods, their fiery descent camouflaged by the Guy Fawkes Night fireworks exploding all over the city. The furry black aliens, armed with a mouthful of luminous teeth, are here to breed, though what it means for humanity if they succeed isn’t quite clear.
In Cowboys, the somewhat more typically monstrous visitors — large, with sharp claws and simultaneously reptilian and insectile features — are already here at the movie’s start. Like most travelers setting up shop in the late 19th-century American West, they’re in search of both gold and a new place to call home, even if that means subjugating or killing the indigenous population. One almost wishes the movie’s Indians could sit back and watch the settlers be decimated just so they’ll know how it feels to be on the other side of the equation.
Cornish’s film centers on a group of teenage miscreants, led by the aptly-monikered Moses (John Boyega). As he and his crew are mugging Sam (Jodie Whittaker), a young nurse on her way home late at night, the first alien lands, and with that, the movie (and Sam) takes off at a sprint. The director doesn’t waste much energy on exposition and setup: there will be plenty of time to get to know this crew as they attempt to defend their block, themselves, and their weed from a steadily growing force that seems bent on going after them and them alone.
Boyega is absolutely riveting, leading with a stern glower, and constantly trying to prove himself. Yet Moses has a deep well of tenderness and honor beneath the facade, and Boyega almost single-handedly makes you care not just about his character, but about everyone in any gang that would align itself with him. He’s that magnetic. Each of these characters has a distinct identity, and Cornish engages the audience in each of their fates, adding layers to their characters amid a steady stream of jokes, heart-pounding chases and anxious horror movie set pieces.