The World’s End: Saying Goodbye to the Cornetto

The World’s End is an alive, sensory blasting blend of humor, surprises and rapid fire dialogue. The best part is that the quick cutting, friendship embracing genre mashups don’t seem old after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  TWE is a refreshing blast of creativity that feels familiar but never rehashed. It features an intense visual style that director Edgar Wright has perfected and then improved upon. Wright’s films are infused with genuine cinema love and that is why they’ve become cult classics that are critically adored (88% on RT including Scott Pilgrim). The World’s End is the perfect way to end a trilogy and blast off into other territory.

TWE revolves around five friends attempting to finish a pub crawl that bested them twenty years prior. The ringleader is the former cool kid (Simon Pegg) who has befallen hard times. High school was the best time of his life and the failure of the crawl has always haunted him So, fresh out of some form of rehab he reassembles the band and proceeds to get drunk and play Need for Speed. The problem is they’ve all gone different directions, haven’t talked to each other in years and confused as to how they were talked into getting wasted. Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Martin Freeman are the men who find themselves over their heads and drunk out of their minds. Old issues are rekindled, secrets are shared and beers are chugged during a wild night. 

The previews have given away a great deal of the surprise and made TWE appear like a mash up of This is the End and Beerfest. The good news is that Wright’s films don’t follow any conventions and there is a twist around every corner. Characters are always three-dimensional, plots don’t follow any rules and the action is surprisingly well done. The fights scenes are wonderful because they encapsulate each person’s style and are drunken spectacles of wild punches, dude’s hiding in bathrooms and head pops. Also, Rosamund Pike adds a welcome presence as Martin Freeman’s sister who slept with wild man Simon Pegg 20 years ago and is loved by Paddy Consindine. Pike holds her own among the group of men who have inhabited the cornetto trilogy.

Eventually, they find out their hometown is infested with “robots” and the film becomes a barrage of neat character moments, cameos, beer moustaches and one final fence gag.  To give away more would be a shame. So, watch the movie. Enjoy the evolution of Frost, Pegg and Wright as they close out one of the greatest trilogies (of sorts) ever.

Watch Shaun of the Dead. Watch Hot Fuzz. Watch The World’s End. Watch them again.