Review: The World’s End / Cert: 15 / Director: Edgar Wright / Screenplay: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright / Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike / Release Date: July 19th
The last in the very loose trilogy known as the Blood and Ice Cream/Three Flavours Cornetto is finally here and while Shaun of the Dead was horror and Hot Fuzz was action, the third film, The World’s End, is definitely back in Starburst territory with a clever riff on the body snatchers story.
Simon Pegg plays Gary King, a man who never got over his idealised teenage years and one night’s pub crawl in particular. Now facing the wrong end of 40, Gary decides to get the gang back together from that night to complete the pub crawl in their hometown of Newhaven and end the night at the titular pub, The World’s End. Along the way secrets are revealed, old grudges remembered and old flames reignited, plus… there’s something weird going on with the residents of Newhaven.
Interestingly Pegg and Nick Frost both play against type here. Pegg is the irresponsible one and Frost is the tightly wound one. Pegg is amazing in this role; he is the embodiment of a man whose purpose is to be the life and soul of the party, and is a very real character. He and Frost get the meaty scenes and their relationship is the most complex. We think it’s fair to say the other friends (Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan) get a bit lost with the usual Edgar Wright fast-paced dialogue delivery and their relationships don’t seem to sing in the same way, although each is given their own laugh out loud moment.
There is something of a satirical slant to The World’s End which becomes more obvious as the film goes on. The first clue is when the gang walk into one of their old haunts to find it has become a stale corporatized shell of what they used to know and the second is the way that the new residents tend to come apart when fought. The third can be left for you to discover but sadly this thread is never really explored as much as you would like and feels like a missed opportunity. This is small matter though, because The World’s End is hugely funny and thrilling with a surprising number of lengthy fight scenes and well-staged setpieces.
The World’s End will be a definite crowd-pleaser this summer and although it may never reach the heights of the previous films, it’s definitely an entertaining capper to one of the more inventive trilogies of our times.
Expected Rating: 9 out of 10
Actual Rating:
