The World's End

Saw it at a midnight premier last night (free Cornettos were given out!) and myself and the rest of the audience were laughing throughout, having a thoroughly enjoyable time. I thought it was great, definitely on a par with Hot Fuzz, though - to me - not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead, which is fair enough as it is one of my all-time favourites. It is definitely a worthy close to the "trilogy" though, and it stands up well against the other two.

Amongst the highlights were seeing another former Bond actor, even if it was in a small role, along with various other regulars from the past films and Spaced - Tyres, Julia Deaking (Marsha), Bill Nighy's voice, Mark Heap, et al.

With a plot as ludicrous as this one the film relies on the strength of it's leads to succeed, and they pull it off admirably. I liked that there was a role reversal of Pegg and Frost's usual character dynamic, with Frost especially noteworthy in his performance. The lads have clearly come a long way over the years. Pegg is clearly having a whale of a time, and carries us the audience along with him. Having such a talented group of back-up actors in Marsan, Considine and Freeman helps massively too.

I feel they missed a trick by not using the line "You've got blue on you", though.

Five pre-middle-aged male friends are drawn to Newton Haven, the site of their failed dozen-pub crawl as students in 1990. They're led by Gary King (Simon Pegg). He's the one who couldn't move on from that night; couldn't get a job like them, or get married like them. Reluctant revelry and bad-tempered banter ensues, before the gang discovers that the residents of the town have changed. That is, they have BEEN changed...

The World's End is considerably better than the ostensibly similar This Is The End, a super-indulgent American comedy which mistook f-bombs for humour and name-dropping for satire. Edgar Wright's film is indulgent also, but at the service of audience enjoyment, as opposed to the enjoyment of the players. The script is surprisingly dense and intricate, many of its jokes arriving bittersweet. In an era when so many comedies are heavily (and lazily) improvised, it's refreshing to watch a tightly woven story unfold for once.

The action scenes are given equal attention, lovingly choreographed like some kind of slapstick dance. Chief pugilist is Andrew, our sort-of-hero, played by Nick Frost with remarkable agility. This instalment is far less bloodthirsty than its predecessors - more Scott Pilgrim than Shaun.

The rest of the group is made up of Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, and Martin Freeman. The performances are all top-drawer, although it takes time for their individual personalities to emerge. But then, the fact that they are now practically indistinguishable may be the point - for all their disapproval of Gary, they are the ones playing it safe.

What's most impressive about The World's End is the fact that it's actually about something. Nostalgia is easy to indulge but difficult to deconstruct, but this film genuinely aspires to explore the idea of selective memory - as with a bad hangover, our memories tends to return in subjective spasms, and the truth is only accessible by gathering multiple witnesses. And the truth isn't always what it cracked up to be.

The World's End is, for me, the best of the "Cornetto Trilogy". Highly recommended.

"We're going to see this through to the bitter end. Or... lager end." Gary King (Simon Pegg)

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are at it again satirizing pop culture, this time with an entertaining send up of zombie movies (even their own spoof, Shaun of the Dead) and boy-man buddy vacations like Hangover. Five middle-aged blokes, led by the perennially immature Gary King (still the "King," he'd like to think), return after 20 years to their hometown to finish the crawl to the 12th and final pub, The World's End.

The obvious allegory is fun to follow as robotic replicas of actual humans try to take over the world. Their mission is to make earth and humans perfect, a goal any lame brain knows is impossible. Aliens have been trying to conquer earth since movies began with little success given our need for independence and ingenuity finding the alien weaknesses.

The real strength of The World's End is in the dialogue with its rapid repartee. For example:

Gary King: And here we go! Just like the five musketeers. Steven Prince: Three musketeers wasn't it? Gary King: Well nobody knows how many there were really do they? Oliver: You do know that The Three Musketeers was a fiction right, written by Alexander Dumas. Gary King: A lot of people are saying that about the bible these days. Steven Prince: What, that it was written by Alexander Dumas. Gary King: Don't be daft, Steve; it was written by Jesus.

Covering authorship and ignorance issues while being amusingly clueless is the endearment of Pegg and Wright's democratic humor—after all, none of the players is exempt from stupidity.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is the thematic point about never being able to go home again. The protagonists grew up in the same town, and returning to finish their crawl reveals that no one remembers them! Of course, since the townies are almost all robots, they couldn't remember them anyway. Yet the point is figuratively well taken: Nobody cares about you after you're gone.

If you seen the other two movies in the so-called Cornetto Trilogy ("Shaun of the Dead" & "Hot Fuzz") then you already know what to expect from "The World's End". Like the others it is funny and full of unexpected and crazy twists and turns. The story follows five friends who decide to reunite and finish the pub crawl they were not able to complete 20 years ago. Everything is going fine and then all hell breaks loose. You know you're probably in for a wild and fun ride and that is exactly what you get. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost kind of switch roles from their previous movies, Frost is the one that has it together and Pegg doesn't. It works well and they still maintain their great humor and wit. The supporting cast is equally funny with Eddie Marsan being a highlight. The movie if full of great one liners and some absolutely hilarious moment. If you liked "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" or if you just like wild and fun movies then you'll like "The World's End". It is funny, clever, and a hell of a ride.

When you're the third film in an unofficial trilogy that includes Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz then there is a lot of pressure on you to maintain that quality and unfortunately this film doesn't do that. There are good aspects to this comedy but not enough of it really comes together well enough to make it stand up to the previous two films. The plot here sees Gary King trying to reclaim happiness by convincing a group of his friends to revisit the "good old days" by going on a pub crawl they attempted when their lives lay ahead of them and they felt full of potential. However, when they do return to their home they feel like they have changed too much and should never have come back – but they are only half right, because they should not have come back, although it isn't them that has changed.

I like the ideas behind this film. On one hand we have a sci-fi movie which owes its debts to 1950's America while on the other we have a very British plot involving a pub crawl and someone who can't let go of the time in his life where he felt important and potent – a time which has left him behind and now appears a bit pathetic to still be trying to be the person he was rather than just moving on. This is a nice idea and it is one that occasionally goes somewhere but far too frequently it doesn't and it isn't consistently applied. It also doesn't help that Gary himself is a wholly unlikeable character; writing this type of person to work as someone we support is hard and the script never achieves it, it never consistently shows the cracks to the extent that you feel for him. Many of us will have a small part of Gary in us but the film never reaches it. It also doesn't help that the film seems to take his side at the end as well.

This gives us the sci-fi side and it does work better as an all out comedy sci-fi; the fight scenes are silly but yet well done and the action is quite engaging. That said it never feels grounded in the dreary British reality in the way that Hot Fuzz and Shaun managed to do so very well, so while it is decent, it never feels as clever or as special as the previous two films. It does have laughs and the film does have good elements so I don't think it is bad, just that it isn't really anywhere near as successful as it needed to be. The cast are mostly good but the material doesn't make the most of them. Pegg is the lead, has the toughest character and really can't make it work – not all his fault, but still. Nick Frost is better because his character is simpler and he is fun in the action sequences. Marsan, Considine and Freeman are better actors than the material they get given here – likewise the many familiar faces in support, from Brosnan down to Oram, although they do OK.

The World's End is not a bad film and if you liked the previous films then you'll be more likely to find things to enjoy here – but chances are you'll still feel a little disappointed as the aspects that made the previous films work so well don't really come together with this one.