jimbo-53-186511 *********************MAJOR SPOILERS***************************Tower Block is sort of a cross between Attack the Block, Saw & The Negotiator. This is probably another film that is easiest to summarise simply by dividing it into good and bad. I'll start with the good;GOOD - The opening scene shows a youth being beaten up and subsequently killed, albeit unintentionally. When a police officer makes door to door enquiries with the residents, he speaks to Becky (Sheridan Smith) who claims that she hasn't seen anything and refuses to assist the police. This might seem strange to those that live outside the UK, but in certain areas of the UK and within certain communities, the police are seen as 'the enemy' and people refuse to 'grass' for fear of reprisals. This doesn't necessary set the characters as being 'bad', but merely explores what parts of our society are like within the UK. I also liked the way that there were a good mix of characters living in the block - it would have been easy for the filmmaker's just to have a load of unlikeable chavs (or delinquents for those who are unfamiliar with UK slang), but there were clearly a mix of good and bad people which again meant that the characters weren't entirely clichéd. We don't get much background information on the characters, but we know enough about them to understand that they all have their own identify. Again I felt it was a fair representation of our society. A special nod should also go to Sheridan Smith and Julie Graham who I felt probably gave the strongest performances. There is a particularly effective scene between the objectionable Kurtis (Jack O'Connell) and family man Neville (Ralph Brown). Kurtis had been taking payment from the residents to 'protect' them, but when Kurtis pushes Neville too far he punches him and knocks him to the ground. I believe the point of this scene was to show how weak and cowardly bullies are and effectively Kurtis did try to bully many of the residents throughout the film. I thought that was a good bit of writing. Tower Block moves at a very brisk pace and I don't recall there being a dull moment throughout the film. It certainly kept me entertained for the majority of its 90 minute running time. BAD; OK, it's impossible to overlook how far fetched and ridiculous that this film felt at times. We have a sniper who seems to be able to pick people off the instant a curtain opens. How come he always knew which window they would appear from and be able to shoot them instantly every time? He would only be able to point his sniper at one window at a time so is it just luck that he happens to always have his sniper trained on the right window. Next we come to the booby traps - I mean geez who was his accomplice John Kramer aka Jigsaw from the Saw films. I just found it hard to believe that a police officer would have the skill or the knowledge to be able to concoct these elaborate traps. In Saw, we learn that John Kramer is able to create elaborate traps, but it's explained that he is a Civil Engineer and hence has the required knowledge to be able to create complex mechanical traps. Are we really expected to believe that a police officer is able to do this? Even if he had the skill to set these traps up (which seems unlikely to me). How on earth would he be able to do all this without anybody noticing? He also manages to block a fire exit by placing a skip in front of the door. How did he do that? Did he have a mate with a skip lorry and a skip? It just got more and more ludicrous as it went on. For me the worst aspect of the film was the final 10 minutes or so; the vigilante police officer decides to enter the Tower Block to pick off the remaining residents. What surprised me about this is that he ends up making it easier for the residents to get the better of him. If he'd stayed where he was, they still would have struggled escaping. When watching this scene, it reminded me of that line towards the end of Crocodile Dundee 2 "When we were kids, did you chase the snake into the cane fields". In other words, why did he go into the lions den (so to speak) and make himself more vulnerable. The end of the film is also a bit ambiguous as you find yourself not sure whose side you should be on - the residents were wrong because they didn't do anything to prevent the sniper/police officer's son from getting killed, but then again the police officer killed a lot of people who genuinely may not have known who killed his son. I found the ending to be somewhat of an anti-climax and also thought it was a strange way to wrap the film up. I also wasn't impressed by Jack O'Connell's 'over-acting'. Despite some of my reservations Tower Block is still worth a look. In spite of its many flaws, it is entertaining and I can honestly say that there was never a dull moment. At times the writing was really sharp, but due to the numerous plot holes and the rather anti-climatic ending it's nothing more than an average film.

FlashCallahan A young man is chased by two thugs in the titular building and killed. Moving on a few months, the tower block is closing and the only residents that are left are in the top floor, and would you believe it? Some dirty rotter starts taking pot shots at them.And they are really good, because they only have to stick their head or hand up near the window and its instant death....Despite the fact that the premise is a bit silly, and all they had to do was to stay on the other side of the tower block, this film is a solid thriller, with great performances from Smith and O'Connell.But a lot of work could have been done on the characters. We have all the generic parts you would expect from a movie. The two Gangsters who may or may not have a secret.The husband and wife who have been there for years.A mother and child, who have just lost the man in their life.The girl who everyone thinks is scum, but really has a heart of gold.The lad who fancies the above.And the hard man who everyone hates/fears, but comes good at the end.And its if they all pick a ticket with a number on to see who gets offed first. If you take plausibility and throw it out of the window, its a good 90 minutes of no brain, tense action.Its a shame it didn't get a wider release, but released so soon after The Raid, and Attack the Block, people must have had council flat fatigue...

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningSerenity House is the latest in a long line of high rise London tower blocks scheduled for demolition, with the niggling problem of a few remaining residents on the top floor. A year before, however, a young man was brutally murdered there and his killers never brought to justice because nobody talked. A year later, those remaining residents find themselves at the mercy of a sniper's rifle, as one by one they are plucked off as they try to work out how to survive and who is behind it.These grim, gritty urban British dramas have all become pretty interchangeable, with some seemingly appearing out of nowhere on DVD, some getting maybe a limited release in theatres here and there and some enjoying more of a mainstream following. A familiar sight in these films tends to be the titular 'tower blocks', the high rising tenement complexes which, at the beginning of the film, are acknowledged as having originally being seen as a wondrous privilege after the second world war for those lower down the scale in society but which, over the years, deteriorated into decadent, run down hell holes, breeding grounds for crime. Despite it's impressive visual style and dark sense of foreboding, if Tower Block had gone down this same route of exploring social breakdown, it could simply have been an impressive but ultimately forgettable effort. As it is, it's a film in a league all of it's own, a hard hitting, unbearably tense and scary effort that works wonders.The first 'sniper shot', as the first victim casually sits and talks with another character over some coffee, genuinely made me jump out my skin and sets the tone for what's about to follow. It shakes the foundations of a typical urban Brit flick and adds a high concept idea all of it's own that makes it stand out and keep you riveted. The grainy, drained out camera style and whirring digital soundtrack were already working when the film started, but as the story progresses, it works even better. In this already dismal, hopeless setting, we find a host of characters, some more sympathetic than others, thrown together and forced to over come their hostility and prejudices to one another in order to make it out alive.Cast wise, it's best to focus on the two main characters, who also happen to be played by the trendiest, most up and coming stars. Jack O' Connoll is hardly stretching himself as a swaggering, tough talking wannabe bad boy, but that doesn't make his presence any less effective, and it's wise to play a part he tends to specialize in. As the heroine, Sheridan Smith delivers, as a feisty, determined young woman who tries to keep a cool head while everything around her goes mad. In their own way, all the supporting cast are as big a part in making it what it is and no one can be denied their dues.In a genre that has a tendency to be a bit hit and miss, Tower Block is just a success, tense, atmospheric, jumpy, challenging, uneasy, claustrophobic and just a shattering new spin in a genre, that pays off splendidly. *****

trashgang When I saw the trailer for Tower Block it looked rough and brutal. Sadly it never became brutal but still it's an excellent flick. Everyone knows those tower blocks were you never wants to resident. This is one of them. When there is screaming in the streets below you turn on your television or close your doors, got nothing to do with you. Exactly what is going on here.We see someone running from some hoodies toward Tower Block 31. After being killed no-one wants to be involved although Becky (Sheridan Smith) witnessed the beating and has been hit also by the hoodies. The police isn't wanted in such areas. Life goes on until the tower block is under the eye of a sniper and is killing everyone.It's the first attempt of UK co-directors James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson and they succeeded in their mission. Not only you wanted to know what is going on and who's the sniper it's also the acting of Sheridan and Jack O'Connell (Kurtis) that takes this flick to a higher level. It has an overall brutal look but you hear bullets fly and hit but it's almost never shown. The first hit is the goriest one and you just can't see it coming. Enjoyable flick were scum needs each other to survive and where they also become friends to survive. Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5