Film: The World's End

The World’s End is the finale of the Cornetto Trilogy, a loose trilogy which previously featured zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead and buddy cop film parody Hot Fuzz. This film attempts to tackle a sci-fi adventure, in the style of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, combined with the idea of a wild pub crawl. Our heroes are a gang of childhood friends who previously attempted the legendary golden mile in their hometown when they finished high school, having a pint in 12 different pubs. 

Simon Pegg plays Gary King, an impulsive alcoholic, who decides to reunite his old friends to take another stab at the pub crawl. Gary rounds up Peter (Eddie Marsan), Oliver "O-Man" (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine) and Andrew (Nick Frost), pulling them from their adult lives back to their childhood town. They also happen to run into Oliver’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike), who both Gary and Steven had feelings for back in high school. It quickly becomes apparent that their hometown isn’t quite right, the people are being slowly replaced by alien machines. The gang have to fight back the alien invasion while also completing their quest, but why is Gary so eager to complete the golden mile?

All the main characters feel believable, wonderfully brought to life by the cast. We have seen the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost bromance play out so much previously, so it’s interesting that at the start of this one they despise each other, with Andrew unable to get over their messed up past. Pegg brings Gary to life wonderfully, the character being the biggest wanker I can remember him portraying. He’s so hopelessly screwed up and stuck in his ways, the perfect embodiment of that person who’s unable to grow up. Andrew is the teetotal one of the group, having stopped drinking after an incident involving Gary which ended their friendship. As events get more screwed up you get to see him transform from the calm voice of reason to a more traditional Nick Frost role. The other friends are less established, the main focus of the story once again being the two friends, and little new ground is brought to the material once they start to connect again. The only thing that is truly different is that Simon Pegg’s character is the more screwed up of the two. 

Of course the most important thing that people will be wondering is: is The World’s End funny? Unfortunately compared to the previous films I found it quite uneven, while it has it’s moments of hilarity some jokes also fall flat. It is definitely the least funny of the trilogy. The film really works best as an action movie, the fight scenes being incredibly well shot and choreographed. The first encounter with the ‘blanks’ instantly grabs the audience’s attention, being both funny and exhilarating. The standout fight of the film is an epic brawl in one of the bars, where the gang have to fight off a seemingly never ending army of blanks. The sci-fi elements of the film are a bit convoluted, it’s hard to tell why the aliens are doing what they do and the eventual explanation makes little sense. In particular it’s unclear why they have chosen to replace people with duplicates at all. The film’s epilogue drags the film down, coming out of nowhere to give the title some meaning.

While not the best of the cornetto trilogy, the film still has its funny moments and great action scenes. However it is hardly a masterpiece and if you can, I’d recommend waiting for the DVD.