Face-Off: District 9 Vs. Attack the Block

By JoBlo

January 19th 2012, 6:13pm

Last Updated on August 3, 2021

Welcome to The Face-Off, the ultimate showdown for movies. Every week, the Face-Off takes two movies and compares the hard facts and details for each. We’ll decide which film we think was stronger for each section that we break down, but ultimately the decision on which movie wins the overall battle is up to you. After you’ve read through what you need to know, let us know which movie YOU think is the champion and why!

Today’s challengers have a theme and that theme is: ALIEN INVASION! And the two movies that come to mind when you think of that are DISTRICT 9 and ATTACK THE BLOCK. So which of these movies will reign supreme? It’s all up to YOU!

Titles

It doesn’t tell you anything about the story, which features stranded aliens currently inhabiting South Africa. However, the title conjures up strong images of District Six, the infamous inner-city area in Cape Town where 60,000 people were forcefully removed during apartheid.

As cool of a name as it is- it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Why isn’t it “Defend the Block”? That’s what the film’s about, after all, a bunch of kids trying to defend their apartment block from alien invaders.

The Lead Actor

The lead is a first-time actor who manages to give a better performance than most trained actors.

The Aliens

Giant insects. Worker drones who don’t have a whole lot of sense and get high by eating cat food. Only a handful of them can do any real thinking and try to fight their way out of there.

The effects are CGI and fairly incredible.

“Like a monkey f*cked a fish” is how the female of the alien species is described, but the males are “gorilla wolf motherf*ckers”- pure darkness, black and furry and sightless. All that you’ll see coming at you are those glowing, sharp teeth.

They were made with a combination of a guy in a suit, beefed up with some CGI, and it’s the kind of combo that makes it even more scary and authentic.

What they want

To get home!

To get laid!

How they kill

The alien weaponry doesn’t just put holes in people, it explodes people into little giblets. Messy, but effective.

Teeth. Big, sharp, neon-blue teeth.

How the humans fight back

Well, they fight for the aliens, but they use a Mech. That’s right, a goddamn Mech, one that can catch bullets and rockets and rip structures to pieces like they were made of tissue paper.

Bats, chains, swords, fireworks, pistols, supersoakers, and a pizza delivery bike.

Entertainment Value

Starts off as a fake documentary before turning into straight up action movie nuttiness by the end. It wants to get you thinking as much as it seeks to entertain, however, and some people may find the change from documentary to action movie really jarring, especially since it doesn’t make sense to continue in the doc style once the film’s showing things where a cameraman was obviously nowhere near.

100% pure entertainment from start to finish. It kicks off with an alien hurtling down from space into a car and doesn’t ever really let up. Even the important character development is handled on the fly.

Soundtrack

Sounding a bit like a summer blockbuster movie soundtrack spiced up with native African style, composer Clinton Shorter’s mainstream debut knocks it out of the park. It runs the range from moving and emotional to suspenseful and action-packed, managing to sound familiar yet utterly unlike anything else out there.

A pumping, bassy track composed by Basement Jaxx, who really has to score more films. They set the tone of this one perfectly, making for a soundtrack that you can (and should) listen to outside the film. Also, “Get that Snitch” is absolutely hysterical.

Best Quote

“I would never have any kind of… pornographic activity with a fokkin’ creature!”

“This is too much madness to explain in one text!”

Attack the Block

It’s an incredibly close race, but I have to give it to Attack the Block. As gloriously entertaining as DISTRICT 9 is, ATTACK THE BLOCK is one of those rare films that doesn’t have a bit of fat on it, just infinitely rewatchable and quotable. Both are great alien invasion films but those insects didn’t have a chance against the blue-toothed monsters.

What do you folks think- did DISTRICT 9 deserve to win? Is there a recent alien movie better than either one? Let us know below!