Review 202: "The World's End"

"We're going to see this through to the bitter end.

Or lager end."

The First Paragraph

      The World's End is the third and final film in the "Three Flavours Cornetto" Trilogy of films by director Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, that started in 2004 with Shaun of the Dead and continued in 2007 with Hot Fuzz. (And technically continued in 2010 with Paul). This British comedy was directed by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World), who also wrote it along with Simon Pegg (Run, Fatboy, Run) and follows Gary King (Simon Pegg) as he reunites with friends Andy (Nick Frost), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine) and Peter (Eddie Marsan) as they attempt to finish a one mile, 12 pub pub crawl leading them to the final pub, The World's End, that they failed as teenagers. As they meet old friends, including Oliver's sister Sam (Rosamund Pike), and see old sites, they discover that not everything's the same in Newton Haven and that what's new, might just kill them.

The perfect example of cool.

The Trusted Filmmakers

      If you are a fan of good movies, then you should be very familiar with the name Edgar Wright. So far, he's 4 for 4 with not just good films, not just great films, but so far, every film he's made would have ended up on my top ten best list of the year. And The World's End is no exception. Once again re-teaming with Pegg and Frost, the trio of talent have already tackled zombies films (Specifically Romero movies), american buddy cop films (Specifically Point Break and Bad Boys II) and now they're tackling apocalypse movies, specifically Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And as per the usual, the film is the downright funniest movie I've seen all year. The premise slowly finds our heroes getting more and more inebriated as the night, and the danger, goes on. The film features the same fast talking and character driven humor that you've come to expect from a Pegg/Frost/Wright team and with a slightly larger cast than normal. I will say though that the film is not really as funny as the first two entries, but it more than makes up for it in the drama department.

The Old Familiars

      For a loose-connect "trilogy" features no repeat characters, settings or stories, The World's End feels more like a epic finale than some actually "epic" finales like the last Harry Potter movie. The third act is by far the best piece of film out of all the films in the trilogy and the best piece of film I've seen all year. It twists and turns in genuinely surprising ways and the last five minutes are way beyond what I was expecting. But the true stars here are in fact, the stars. Pegg and Frost as King and Andy are absolutely fantastic. It's easily the best performances from both actors ever. The finals scenes with the two, especially a big emotional moment right before the climax, feel like a culmination of the relationships in the past movies. They've played best friends, growing friends and here, lost friends and there is an actual feeling of sadness and loss behind the characters, funny as they may be. If this really is the last time we see the Pegg/Frost/Wright trio then this is a truly fantastic way to finish things off. Though it's probably won't be the last time we see them. Hopefully. Ant-Man. Just sayin'.

I could see this as a great board game.

The Review's End

      So, no, in the end, The World's End isn't the best of the series. Hot Fuzz still gets that honor. But that doesn't take away from the fact that The World's End is one of the best films of the year. Not only is it really, really funny as we've come to expect from this trio, but it packs more emotion into this comedy than many other comedies even try to. The end result is a terrific film with a great cast of characters providing a truly fitting end to a great "trilogy" of films. Let's just hope this isn't truly the end. The World's End gets 6 stars out of 6.