Throwback Thursday Review: 'The World's End'

Sorry for the delay on this review as it was originally supposed to be uploaded in the Fall along with about seven other Throwback Thursday Reviews... Since January and February are a bit barren for major motion picture releases, I've decided to just review most of those films in that timeframe. You can expect most to go online on a particular Thursday, but some will crop up randomly as I view them. Anyways, this week I'm reviewing The World's End. As explained previously, it doesn't really tie into anything this week, but my original intention was to review Edgar Wright's entire filmography last year. Posts you should look forward to in the next four weeks include my Star Wars Speculation spoiler review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Throwback Thursday Reviews of The Shining, the 1990 It miniseries, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Blade, reviews of new releases 12 Strong, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Winchester, Peter Rabbit, The 15: 17 To Paris, Early Man, and Black Panther, and two posts regarding the upcoming Oscar nominations (this will make more sense Monday). Some 2017 films I missed out on that I'll probably be reviewing fairly soon are Phantom Thread, Mudbound, Colossal, The Lost City of Z, and The Florida Project.

'The World's End' Review

The World's End follows five friends as they're reunited by the immature adult Gary King to partake in the legendary Golden Mile and drink their way through 12 pubs in their hometown, Newton Haven. At the end lies The World's End, and King's willing to do whatever it takes to reach the final destination... Even if that means fighting an android army!

The World's End is the third and final installment in Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, an anthology series of parody films including Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Each entry in the trilogy is directed by Wright, written by Wright and Simon Pegg, produced by Nira Park, and stars Pegg and Nick Frost. There's virtually no connective tissue between the three films aside from the aforementioned talent and the prominent inclusion of Cornetto ice-cream, so you really don't NEED to see one film in order to watch the others. At this point, Pegg and Frost had taken on zombies and a psychotic neighborhood watch alliance... so what was next? Android aliens, of course!

Wright and Pegg have a great deal of fun with the politically correct nature of naming these extra terrestrials. You can't call them robots because robot means "slave," so the friends draw a blank... And naturally, that's what they come to be known as... blanks! Of course, the humor is overtly British and totally in keeping with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz's comedic sensibilities. Edgar Wright is easily one of the most distinct directors working today, and he once again manages to put a unique spin on a familiar premise as he'd already given audiences a zom-rom-com (zombie-romantic-comedy) and an ode to buddy cop comedies. The World's End is a story about middle aged men going on a pub-crawl during an alien invasion. Sound crazy? It sure is, but that's not necessarily to the film's detriment. 

In fact, the insanity makes things far more interesting. The action is considerably choreographed, well-captured by Bill Pope, and efficiently edited by Paul Machliss, enabling the film to move at a brisk pace. My main issue is that despite all the sharp humor and silly sequences to be found in The World's End, the film never quite grabbed my attention like the other Cornetto entries. The World's End is not an average ending so much as it's less inspired. On the whole, the story's a bit derivative of Wright's other work and seems to be made for the sake of ending the trilogy. 

Leading the flick, Simon Pegg lets loose as the absurdly irresponsible adult Gary King in stark contrast to his straight man archetype from Hot Fuzz. Since the character isn't written to be particularly likable, it's Pegg's responsibility to wield his natural charisma and ensure audiences can get onboard with King's juvenile behavior, and he nails it!

Pegg is given a slight boost from a strong supporting cast featuring the likes of Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, and Rosamund Pike in roles of varying size and substance. Frost plays it straight as the emboldened Andy Knightley, unlike either of his previous Cornetto roles, and while it works in the confines of the story, his serious character tends to fade into the surroundings on occasion. This is really more of a shame because I enjoy the eccentric nature of his other characters. Freeman, Considine, and Marsan are quite enjoyable in their respective roles and Pike elevates what could have simply been a lazy love interest. Pierce Brosnan and David Bradley each also imbue enough intrigue to their stock characters that you'll be hard-pressed to forget them when all is said-and-done.

After an enlightening abduction, The World's End proved to still be my least favourite of the Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy and Edgar Wright's filmography. I'm not sure that The World's End was the necessary or ideal end to Wright's diverse Cornetto trilogy, but it's sure to offer a good time regardless of if the world's ending or not.  

Film Assessment: B