The World's End

“Gary” (Simon Pegg) is trying to get his four childhood friends to return to their hometown to complete a pub crawl of it’s dozen boozers after their initial attempt after their last day at school fizzled out. Adulthood has seen them go their separate ways, and not without their baggage either, but he hopes that former best mate “Andy” (Nick Frost); “Oliver” (Martin Freeman) and his sister “Sam” (Rosamund Pike), “Steve” (Paddy Considine) and “Pete” (Eddie Marsan) will all go with him. Upon their arrival in his ancient Ford Cortina, they quickly realise that the pubs have not just lost much of their originally rustic charm, but that the population are all a little bit unfriendly, or unfamiliar, or both! Something is most definitely amiss, and as they proceed from pub to pub they begin to realise that nothing is as it seems and that they are in danger of being subsumed into a well mannered and civilised sterility that has to be resisted. What now ensues is reminiscent of “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) with Pegg and Frost confidently leading the slapstick, ink-ridden, comedy entertainingly helped along by plenty of sarcastic quips, furniture destruction, a few malevolent interventions from Pierce Brosnan and a few more helpful ones from David Bradley’s eccentric “Basil”. Will they make it to pub twelve, though? It’s a bit slow to get going, and I could have done without some of the preamble, but once the shenanigans start in earnest, this is quickly paced fun to watch.

Let's start on a positive note...the fight scenes were brilliant, certainly the funniest parts of the movie. A bunch of drunks that can kill robots...not robots with action movie style and professional wrestling moves is almost too funny to watch. Seeing Pegg and Black's characters interchanged was fresh as well, especially since Black pulls off the lovable Pub king and Pegg does a good job of looking like an old alcoholic. And the last determined dash to hit the final two pubs was classic... ...but not of the same caliber as the previous two in the unofficial trilogy. The alien thing was too...meh. Invasion of the Body Snatchers with an awkward Dreamcatcher vibe and it didn't work. In fact, for the most part, a lot of it just took away from the humor as a whole. The build-up was a bit of a downer and by the time the comedy hit, the audience was gone. The fun came too late in the film and for a long time it seemed like a drama with an amused grin and not the comedy that you'd expect.

I finally watched the final part of the so-called Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. I'm not actually a massive fan of the preceding two films, like don't get me wrong they are good films - I've just never been, unlike the majority it seems, overtly into them. 'The World’s End' continues that trend. Early on I was actually expecting this to be great to me, but it basically levels out by the end; 'Hot Fuzz' (3½*) remains my fav. As alluded to, the first chunk of the film I was properly enjoying it - I was really liking the vibe of it. Then the twist happens. It's actually a great twist, I wasn't expecting it at all, but I feel what follows it isn't as enjoyable. It's silly fun, though not much more. The cast are very good, probably my standout from the three films. Of course Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the staples and are excellent. Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike, meanwhile, is nice casting. David Bradley, Pierce Brosnan and Bill Nighy are there too.