REVIEW: The World’s End

by dreynolds91

Edgar Wright writes (along with Simon Pegg), and directs the final installment of ‘The Cornetto Trilogy’ following the success of rom-zom-com ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and action-comedy ‘Hot Fuzz’. With another brilliant cast, ‘The World’s End’ was certain to deliver.

The 5 musketeers

Gary King (Pegg) was the one who everyone wanted to be in school back in the 80s and had his whole life ahead of him. Unfortunately for him, following leaving school in 1990 and his four friends who he has grown apart from (Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan), things never turned out right for him. 20 years on, Pegg is an alcoholic who has made nothing of his life and reveals his disappointment at failing to complete The Golden Mile, a 12-pub-crawl around Newton Haven where they all grew up. He sees this as an opportunity to reunite with his old friends and finish what they started. After a few pubs, they notice that something is not quite right around the town and discover it has been taken over by robots. King believes that in order to survive, they must complete The Golden Mile by reaching ‘The World’s End’.

Although the film takes a while to get going, it starts delivering when the friends are reunited and they are given time to develop as a group. However, just as you’re beginning to get into the film and it picks up pace, it takes you completely down another route as you find out about the robots. The plot of five friends reuniting to embark on a pub-crawl that they never finished is promising enough for what is ultimately, a comedy. This is where the film starts to get messy.

Although the plot becomes silly and feels like Pegg and Wright were trying to be too clever, it could have still been much more enjoyable if the humour worked but it generally doesn’t. ‘The World’s End’ is funny and does provide some laughs, (in particular when Bill Nighy features), but the jokes never quite ‘hit’ as they’re sometimes a bit too obvious, along with there being a significant amount of slapstick.

What was apparent in the previous two of the trilogy is that Pegg and Frost played likeable characters and the two bounced well off each other. In ‘The World’s End’ there is negative history between the two and there isn’t any energy between them to help carry the film resulting in it stuttering along. King (Pegg) is ultimately an idiot where as Andy (Frost) has become a dull, corporate-obsessed businessman. The two characters just don’t work and it isn’t until later on in the film where you are provided with glimpses of how it could have.

‘The World’s End’ isn’t a bad film at all, it’s fun and enjoyable, but it feels more like an action film rather than a comedy. ‘The World’s End’ is about reliving your past and expecting it to be just as good, only to be disappointed; the same can be said for this film following the previous two of the trilogy.

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