Battle of the Genre Mash-ups: ‘Attack the Block’ vs. ‘Cowboys & Aliens’

So, Attack the Block spreads its infectious cult flavor to San Francisco (it exclusively opens at AMC Metreon on July 29) and Cowboys & Aliens also opens in theaters nationwide. A.T.C. has been making its rounds throughout the country and has slowly been building its army of “blockheads” (I got recruited when I saw it in May) and C & A is poised to shine on the juggernaut summer, CGI-laden blockbuster bandwagon. Besides dealing with aliens, both movies share a common bond: the rising trend of film genre mash-ups. It’s like fusion cooking: combining two things that you wouldn’t normally combine, but you do anyway in hopes for greatness and profit.

That said, which genre mash-up is worth your while?

Let’s start with Attack the Block. Simply put, this is an alien invasion movie thrown into the urban landscape of South London with a bunch of trouble-hunting misfits. It combines the gritty Guy Ritchie-esque atmosphere with the Little Rascals with your traditional “Aliens are taking over the world and only we can do something about it” story line. The movie’s obscure factor is what makes it cool, but at the same time, it is actually cool because: 1.) It has Nick Frost, 2.) Everyone in it has a cool grimy English accent and 3.) It was written and directed by Joe Cornish. I admit, I am not TOO familiar with Mr. Cornish, but everyone tells me he is cool, so I have to go with it. Plus, he wrote the screenplay for the much anticipated The Adventures of Tintin AND he was in Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead — so that’s fun. However, there are no high-wattage celebs. It was low-budget (but that’s also cool and guerilla). Essentially, this movie is a movie that many people are going to have to search for to watch because of its limited release. Again, this has to do with the budget — but luckily it is gaining traction and those inventive furry glowing teeth aliens are pretty darn cool. They are like Gremlins for the 21st century.

As for Cowboys & Aliens, it is the Goliath to A.T.B.‘s David. It’s a through-the-roof movie extravaganza of celebs (Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Sam Rockwell and others) and it is backed by a mafia of Hollywood big wigs (Jon Favreau, Steven Spielberg, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, and others). The movie pairs two unlikely things: the concept of a Western with — you guessed it — an alien invasion. That’s pretty much it. The roster of actors add a dignified nod to the movie and it competes well with CG-gasm — and the effects are well executed. Very well executed. The actors fill in their spaces well: Craig is heartfelt, brooding and mysterious as the hero; Wilde is sexy; Dano is the stock bratty and overprivileged son; and Ford continues to perfect his role as a crotchety action hero who kind of has a heart, but realizes he has to be crotchety because he’s old — this brings me to my conclusion to the battle of mash-up movies.

With Cowboys & Aliens, a fellow movie writer, Mel Valentin said it best when he tweeted, “Seriously, COWBOYS & ALIENS didn’t disappoint, but it didn’t impress either. Watchable, yes; memorable, no.” I could say something, but I am too lazy to think of something snarky so I am just going to use someone else’s words and give him credit. I watched the movie because it’s there, not because I really wanted to — but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The movie is equal to the amount of lukewarm hype it’s been getting. However, the mix of genres is high concept and stronger than Attack the Block in terms of unlikely pairings BUT A.T.B. is more entertaining and interesting to watch.

In this battle, watching a bunch of pot-smoking hooligans hunt down grizzly, blood thirsty aliens with baseball bats and fireworks is more fun than watching an unwashed Daniel Craig shoot down dragonfly spaceships with his fancy bracelet in the Old West.