When unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was fatally shot in Florida by paranoid neighborhood-watch vigilante George Zimmerman in February, the usual flurry of American media debate ensued. One of the more heated tangents came when celebrity newscaster Geraldo Rivera stated — on Fox News, naturally — that Martin's death could be partly blamed on the "hoodie" he was wearing. While stressing that Martin didn't deserve to be shot, Rivera insisted that "every time you see someone stick up a 7-Eleven, the kid is wearing a hoodie. You have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a gangster ... Well, people are gonna perceive you as a menace."
"Wicked!" would no doubt be the reply of the mindless teen gangsta-wannabes in "Attack the Block," a British comedy-horror set on a "Sarf" London council estate where the hoodie (hooded sweatshirt pulled low over the face) has as nasty a connotation as it does in the States. Despite the garment's roots in hip-hop and jock culture, the 2011 London riots surely cemented the widespread belief that "hoodie" equals "villain."
"Attack the Block" attempts to play with the stereotype, though with rather weak results. Director Joe Cornish (a screenwriter on Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" and half of the award-winning comedy duo Adam & Joe) lifts the tepid genre mix 'n' match of "Cowboys & Aliens" to turn it into, well, "Hoodies & Aliens."