The World's End

THE WORLD'S END

Director : Edgar Wright
Year : 2013
Genre : Comedy / Science Fiction
Rating : ***

After 5 years and a hell of a lot of anticipation, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg end their hugely successful and popular 'Three Flavours' trilogy with 'The World's End'; a hilarious and action filled science fiction comedy that may not be as funny as 'Shaun Of The Dead' or 'Hot Fuzz', but still manages to be one of the funniest films of the Summer. As starring the regulars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, 'The World's End' features great performances from Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan who give their all amongst the carnage ensuing around them. Unfortunately, 'The World's End' isn't as focused as 'Shaun' or 'Fuzz' which still remain high comedic watermarks and for a few scattered minutes throughout, I did find myself getting a bit bored. In saying that, 'The World's End' is no disappointment by any stretch of the imagination. It is more of an anticlimax to what could have been a really great trilogy.

Two decades after a failed pub crawl, five friends led by the annoying Gary King (Pegg) reunite in their hometown to once again try and complete the hallowed 'golden mile' Newton Haven; a drinking challenge of twelve pints in twelve different pubs. However, as they progress from one pub to the next, the group soon realises that the residents of Newton Haven may not be who they seem to be and after a violent fight, Gary and his friends realise that getting the final pub on the crawl The World's End may be the least of their worries. Well, it certainly worries Gary's companions anyway.

Utilising the same editing techniques, visual style and catchy tunes that made 'Shaun' and 'Fuzz' so popular,  'The World's End' is a quintessential Edgar Wright film; full of invention, hilarious pop culture references and a joyous love of the silly and surreal. However, whereas the previous films in the trilogy revelled in a gratitious amount of bloodshed and injury, 'The World's End' really isn't as visceral and graphic as I would have liked. Obviously the film is embroiled in the science fiction world rather than the horror or action worlds of 'Shaun' or 'Fuzz', so gore isn't really a convention that needs to be followed here. But to me, the sight of blood on screen would have been much more interesting visually than the blue goo that erupts from Newton Haven inhabitants. However, this isn't a criticism of the film per se, it is just what I would have personally liked to have seen. And to be honest, I can't really complain because Wright continually throws visuals and blistering special effects from the poor character developments and major plot holes; a technique similarly used by the flawed but hugely entertaining 'The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'. Just like 'Hot Fuzz', 'The World's End' is too long and could have benefitted from fewer pub stops and a bit of tighter editing as some scenes really do come across as a just purely filler to tie one action scene to the next without expanding the narratives or the characters. Added to this, the introduction is slightly too long and the climax is somewhat of a disappointment. But for the most part, Wright and Pegg do a bang up job and it is just a shame that 'The World's End' is expected to match up to the very high quality of it's trilogy predecessors. Maybe the film would have benefitted as a stand alone film, rather than being an episode of a disjointed but thematically linked series.

Simon Pegg seems to be having great fun playing the obnoxious central character Gary, whose love for nostalgia and a deep sadness and longing for a long lost childhood has completely governed his adult life. Still listening to the records of his adolescence and holding onto the artefacts of his youth, Gary refuses to let go of the past and grow into a responsible adult. This aspect to his personality is extremely likable and does endear us to his character. But as 'The World's End' plays on, his enthusiasm and pushiness becomes somewhat overbearing and by the half way mark of the film, we end up really disliking him. His attitude towards his friends is questionable and his selfish nature and bloated ego is out for all to see. It is fun to see Pegg play a character like this as it is an archetype that we haven't seen from him before; in 'Shaun Of The Dead' he was an unlikely hero who rose over insurmountable odds and in 'Hot Fuzz' he played the stoic Nick Angel, who was a quiet but dedicated police officer who would risk his own life for the fight for justice and the upholding of the law. In many ways, Gary King is the complete antithesis of both of these characterisations and this element really helps to distinguish 'The World's End' from the rest of the 'Three Flavours' trilogy.

Nick Frost finally gets to play the moral centre of an Edgar Wright film and here he showcases both his acting talents and his emotional range which really hasn't been fully exposed in other movies. In both 'Shaun' and 'Fuzz', he was the lovable goof whose stupidity and blind optimism of the comedic hearts of each movie and was really Pegg's foil; in many ways he was the Dud to Pegg's Pete. Here however, he is given much more juicy dialogue and is the voice of reason against Gary's vain and egotistical nature. A successful businessman with a loyal family and a positive outlook on life, Frost plays a character who we all want to be, whereas Pegg plays a character we all once wanted to be before life became serious and reality hit us like a bolt of lightning. To me, 'The World's End' features Nick Frost's best performance to date and I hope that he is given more roles like this in the future, rather than being constantly typecast as the comedic idiot who will spout a one liner when a space becomes available.

The supporting cast which includes Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan all work very well together and the chemistry between the group seems real and genuine. I like all three actors very much it is very odd for me to see Eddie Marsan playing a comedic part. Not because he isn't a funny guy, but because he plays such menacing and terrifying parts in 'Happy Go Lucky' and Paddy Considine own directorial debut, the electrifying 'Tyrannosaur' with such tenacity and frightening vigour. Seeing Eddie Marsan in a comedy is like watching Al Pacino in 'Jack & Jill'; it just doesn't look right. However, to his credit, Marsan is very funny and hugely likable as the bumbling but goodnatured Pete.

Unlike 'Shaun Of The Dead' or 'Hot Fuzz', 'The World's End' has failed to have much of an effect on me. While it did make laugh many times and I found myself liking a large majority of the characters, I feel absolutely no reason why I would ever watch this film again. The previous installments of the trilogy were extremely memorable; with tons of quotable dialogue, clever cultural references and a large number of instantly iconic scenes which all lent themselves to a number of repeat viewings. The World's End' has very little of these components and unfortunately, this does make the film seem a lot worse than it is. But in reality, it really isn't. It is still an immensely enjoyable film that has a good amount of laughs and a great deal of emotion. It will make a ton of money and I hope that Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg work together in the future because they clearly know how to write good comedy. It is just a shame that they were so insistent on making a trilogy because they have ended their potentially last project together on less of a thunderclap and more on a raspberry.

My friend Alex Smith summed up 'The World's End' the best for me:

''Just seen 'The World's End'. Personally, I think the movie are the best to worst in the order they were released. However, calling it the worst of the trilogy is like ranking The Beatles; still quality, but Ringo just isn't John''.