“The World’s End” is as bizarre and comically satisfying as you’d expect from the makers of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.”
The third part to Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Cornetto Trilogy, “The World’s End” takes an inherently British comedy and injects a healthy dose of supernatural tropes and ridiculous twists.
“The World’s End” tells the story of Gary King (Simon Pegg, “Star Trek Into Darkness”), an emotionally stunted alcoholic desperately trying to relive his glory days, who decides to reunite his high school friends to finally complete the Golden Mile, a pub crawl at their hometown of Newton Haven. Unfortunately the rest of his friends have grown apart and are somewhat estranged because of some of Gary’s immature and reckless actions.
However, after a flashback montage and some rapid-pace exposition, Gary convinces everyone, including his former best friend Andy (Nick Frost, “Snow White and the Huntsman”) to participate in this alcohol-fueled frenzy.
Of course, when they arrive, nothing goes as planned. They quickly discover the town has been taken over by alien robots and must escape with their lives (while still managing to somehow finish the pub crawl).
There is a plentitude of inside jokes and cameos for the longtime Wright-Pegg-Frost fan, including the Cornetto ice cream wrapper (the one thing that shows up in every film) and the failed fence hop. But the film is also enjoyable on a surface level, without any prior knowledge of the other films needed.
Interestingly, Pegg and Frost switch roles in “The World’s End.” Pegg, who usually plays the straight man, is now the down-on-his luck loser and schlub, while Frost is the straightlaced and uptight best friend. It’s odd seeing the reversal in this movie, and more than a little jarring, but the two of them tackle the roles with dedication, and the discomfort is quickly gone.
The supporting cast, which includes Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit”), Paddy Considine (“Girl on a Bicycle”) and Eddie Marsan (“Jack the Giant Slayer”) also turn in lovely performances as the rest of Gary and Andy’s high school friends, bouncing cleverly comical dialogue off each other with ease. Rosamund Pike (“Jack Reacher”) also makes an appearance as the girl who got away from both Gary and Steve (Considine).
The weakest part of the cast were the actors playing the younger versions of the characters. Not only was it confusing to match each adult character with their younger selves, they didn’t seem to add much to the film, and could have easily been replaced by exposition. Also, any screentime taken away from Simon Pegg almost seems like a waste.
“The World’s End,” while not as ingeniously hilarious as “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” is still pretty funny. The jokes are genuine, the physical humor is on point and the story is as bizarre as you’d expect from an Edgar Wright film. The film revels in all the kooky twists and turns it makes, and inspires a sort of viewer loyalty to both newcomers and fans of the first two films.
hbui@theeagleonline.com
