Image: Screen Gems. I swear it’s not from a leaked episode of Doctor Who season 11.

Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block isn’t just one of the best sci-fi action movies of the last decade, but given... let’s say recent events, maybe now would be a really fun time to re-watch a movie that’s quickly become a breeding ground for the future major stars of scifi film and TV.


First released in 2011, Attack the Block follows an alien invasion of a run-down housing block in South London, forcing a gang of teens lead by local boy Moses (John Boyega, who I’m sure you’ve heard of lately) to team up with a Sam, woman they’d just mugged (Jodie Whittaker, who you’ve probably now heard of), to survive a night of terror and lots of thick London accents:

Aside from being filled with some really great action—and a thumping soundtrack to boot courtesy of Basement Jaxx—Attack the Block is a great examination of the struggles of the British working class, framing its entire alien nightmare around Sam, Moses, and the gang coming to understand each other through their shared experiences of growing up around and living in their housing estate, and how the two different groups come to respect and learn from each other, ultimately for the better. Then it’s also got some crazily well-done and intense action sequences where giant, terrifying fuzzy aliens get the crap beat out of them on top of all that, and that’s good too.


And, of course, it means that now you can watch Finn from Star Wars and Doctor Who’s new Doctor fight aliens together instead of just reading the fanfiction that’s inevitably already being written.