The World’s End (2013)
“What the fuck does WTF mean?” – Gary King.
The World’s End (2013)
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Written by: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike
Another raucous, absurd action-comedy from English comedy giants Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, The World’s End is the final movie in their Cornetto Trilogy. Let’s be honest, it’s the worst of the three films, but that’s only because Hot Fuzz and Shaun of The Dead set the bar so high.
Simon Pegg stars as Gary King, a forty-year-old alcoholic who was once the coolest teenager in his small town. Desperate to relive the glory days of his youth, Gary gets his childhood gang back together, and convinces them to attempt a gauntlet he could never finish – The Golden Mile; 12 pubs and 12 pints in one night– the pub crawl to end all pub crawls. However, returning to their hometown of Newhaven, the group realise that there’s something strange going on, and the town is ground zero for an alien invasion.
I love Edgar Wright’s movies. Not only has he made high-energy, quirky standalone films like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Baby Driver, the Cornetto Trilogy is possibly my most rewatched movie trilogy ever. The comedy combo of Pegg, Frost and Wright is unmissable programming at this stage, and they deliver once again here.
The World’s End follows in the footsteps of Wright’s other faux-horror action comedies. While Shaun of The Dead focussed on a zombie apocalypse, and Hot Fuzz focussed on a crazy extremist cult, The World’s End focuses on an alien invasion. In the same vein as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the boys quickly realise that people in their hometown have been replaced with improved replicas of themselves. The use of ‘faux-horror’ as a narrative device serves two purposes for Wright in his films:
It leads to the perfect blend of comedy and action. A fearsome villain leads to some super exciting action sequences supported by a groovy alternative rock soundtrack, while the jokes stem from the characters highlighting how ridiculous their situation is.
With the chracters laughing off their dire situation, it means the movie is very lighthearted, with no real stakes. When main characters get kidnapped or killed, it’s a write off – no one really minds. This is the epitome of stake-free easy viewing.
The witty script and energetic cast results in a delightful package. The humour is mostly observational, focussed on the incredibly immature Gary bringing the rest of the gang down to his level the more pubs they hit. Wright also has a lot of fun hijacking the idea of ‘dutch courage’, with the characters becoming noticeably more confident and better fighters the more drunk they get. Pegg, Frost, and the supporting cast of British comics all play their roles perfectly, including an impressive cameo from Rosamund Pike.
Whilst the idea of an important message seems irrelevant for such a silly storyline, Wright and Pegg wrote the film as a huge metaphor for the death of small towns, with large corporations ‘infecting’ everything. This is represented by the pubs in the film looking almost identical, with the charm eradicated by our corporate overlords.
I’m a huge fan of this film. If you enjoy British comedy, you can’t go wrong with The World’s End. And if you haven’t checked out Edgar Wright’s other films, do yourself a favour and cross them off your to-do list now, before his next big blockbuster (Last Night in Soho) comes out in late 2021.
Rating: 7.5/10