Raise Your Glasses To These 3 Reasons To Like ‘The World’s End’ (Movie Review)
The World’s End is the third part in the so-called Cornetto or Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, which includes 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz. The British comedy (although one could say it’s a little more than just this) is directed by Edgar Wright, who also co-writes the screenplay with actor Simon Pegg. In addition to Pegg, it stars Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike and a bunch of other cameos from well knowns that I don’t want to spoil for you all. The film reunites series regulars, Pegg, Frost and Freeman, as it follows a group of five childhood friends reattempting an epic pub crawl gone awry way back in the 90’s. Are they successful this time around? Jumpy, aren’t you? Relax. We’ll talk about it some more. Grab yourself a pint and kick back for a brief moment as we take the one-mile journey to The World’s End, the final bar in the legendary pub crawl. Ready?
So much to my surprise, after sitting unhappy and bored throughout Shaun of the Dead twice in my life and never seeing Hot Fuzz, I actually liked The World’s End. And it was a much welcome surprised as I found myself chuckling quite a bit at the stupid, but sometimes brutally forced British humor. But hey, I’ll take a few chuckles any day over boredom. Hark! Who goes there? Someone say boredom? Okay. You got me. There was a tad of that in the long Act 2 concourse, but nothing like I was expecting. Read on…
As I was saying above, the film tells the tale of five childhood friends who reunite after twenty years to repeat and hopefully succeed this time around in a pub crawl they attempted earlier in their youth. After a bit of trickery by Gary King (Pegg) to get the guys all involved, the five friends, Gary, Andrew (Frost), Steven (Considine), Oliver (Freeman) and Peter (Marsan), all return to their hometown to once again see if they have what it takes to reach the fabled pub, The World’s End, which is the 12th pub in a one-mile stretch. The deal is that they all must consume one pint of beer in each of the twelve pubs. That may not sound like a lot, but trust me…it’s quite an impressive feat…IF they can pull it off. Things don’t go as smoothly as they would hope as they slowly realize the town, the pubs and the people in their hometown are not quite right. And that’s all I’ll say. Use your imagination. Think of the hijinks that happen in Shaun of the Dead and draw your own conclusion here.
What I liked in this third outing was:
1. The Rich Character Development
2. The Goonies-like Chemistry
…and ultimately…
3.The Humor.
Yes they had all that with Shaun of the Dead, but the humor just did not do it for me there. Here I knew what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised. Rosamund Pike enters the scent to serve as a love interest and low and behold there are a few plot twists you may not even see coming. You see, I told you…I was pleasantly surprised. But perhaps what surprised me the most was the deep message that I found in the film. It’s just as much a coming of age piece as it is a buddy comedy film and I think that’s what made me a fan of it even more. I liked the message it ultimately preached. I was happy to have seen it. And believe me, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d say that. Usually British comedy films just don;t do it for me. So take it for what it’s worth. I think going in if you are fan of the previous two Cornetto Trilogy films, then you pretty much know what to expect here, but you may be surprised at just how grown up the characters are. I was. And I liked it! In my opinion, it’s worth a view to fans and non-fans of the trilogy alike.
The World’s End opens up nationwide in the US on August 23rd and will be Rated-R because of the language. However, it’s not like our kids haven’t seen or heard anything worse. It’s rude, it’s crude and it’s total annihilation of the sense, everything you’d expect the third film in the famed trilogy to be. Raise your glasses, take a drink and maybe you might find something special in here like i did despite the lunacy of it all.
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