The World’s End (2013)
Certified: 15
Duration: 109 minutes
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Rosamund Pike, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, David Bradley, Bill Nighy (voice only), Pierce Brosnan, Thomas Law
KRS release
Simon Pegg plays Gary who is nearly 40, has no career, is not married and whose life revolves around alcohol. He has only one burning ambition, something that has been nagging him for ages: he wants to go to his hometown of Newton Haven and carry out and finish a crawl of 12 pubs, which should be quite an epic undertaking.
He wants to do this feat with his former classmates. The only problem is that these have all moved on in life and have other responsibilities.
These are Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), who was Gary’s best friend and was almost killed when he once tried to save Gary; Peter Page (Eddie Marsan), who is married and a father of two children and was the one to sell Gary the car he now owns; Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), a high-flying estate agent whose sister Sam (Rosamund Pike) had sex with Gary in a public restroom; and Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), who was always smitten with Sam and has now just got a divorce.
By hook or by crook, Gary, however, convinces them to join him on his pub crawl, which has to end at the pub called World’s End. Soon Gary and the gang realise that the townspeople have changed and have become a sort of android placed there by aliens who are about to take over earth.
In 2004, director Edgar Wright and actors Pegg and Frost hit genre fans fair and square with Shaun of the Dead, a zombie comedy that was side-splittingly hilarious and yet still paid tribute to the zombie genre. This was replicated with the movie Hot Fuzz (2007), though this time around the film targeted cop movies.
The trio has now reunited to deliver a blast of a film in what they are referring to as the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy – all three pictures mentioned above are independent of one another with the common element being that the trio is working on them. There are other similarities such as the recurring appearance of the same kind of ice cream, hence the title of the trilogy.
However, The World’s End is a return to Shaun of the Dead’s wild appeal, which Hot Fuzz lacked a bit. The film’s first quarter builds up its hand and lets us get to know this group of boys who have now become men – at least physically.
Underneath all the humour and pub culture, this is a very good detailed look at individuals who suddenly open their eyes to reality and question what they have done with their lives. Then the alien invasion kicks in!
The sense of weirdness and impending doom are present throughout the film, and thus the alien theme is not altogether unexpected as it veers into the territory of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and The Stepford Wives (1975).
The fact that the film is a parody and yet also a homage is obviously evident, and thus a sense of ridicule is never present, thankfully enough. This is mostly due to the fact that the team behind the film are fans of the genre and thus they playfully prod the films with a sense of affection. It is hilarious and insane to see how in the face of alien/android invasion, the pub crawl goes on as if drinking beer is the only sane thing to do.
The result is less of a parody and more of a film that lives up to all expectations placed on it, with loads of laughs, great performances and many insanely good reasons why humanity should be allowed to live free. Perfect viewing for all genre fans.