Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Rating: R
Director: Edgar Wright
Quick Impressions:
I’ve been very excited for the final chapter of the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy (aka the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy) since before I realized that there was a Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy. Don’t get me wrong. I saw and enjoyed and own both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but I didn’t realize they were part of any specifically planned trilogy until I started seeing press for The World’s End earlier this year.
If you didn’t know about this yet, don’t feel too bad because I don’t think Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost knew about it either until production was already underway on Hot Fuzz. I don’t know if the three of them set out specifically to create a thematically linked trilogy back when they first did Shaun of the Dead, but I’m positive that they didn’t think up a name for it until the making of the second movie. (Film buffs are probably familiar with Krzysztof Kieślowski’s acclaimed Three Colours trilogy (in which each film is named for a color of the French flag). Americans are less likely to be familiar with the Cornetto frozen treat made in the U.K. by Wall’s Ice Cream. (It’s basically a Drumstick that’s flat on the top and a bit lighter.) If you’re looking for Cornettos over here, you can find them in Shaun of the Dead (in strawberry), Hot Fuzz (in blue wrappers), and The World’s End (in mint green).
Of course, The World’s End is perfectly watchable even if you’ve never laid eyes on a Cornetto (or the previous two entries in the trilogy, to be honest). It works quite well as a standalone film, in fact. But it’s also fun to think about how the three movies are thematically linked. (My husband had quite a lot of interesting things to say about that on the drive home.)
I’ve been excited for The World’s End since I saw the very first preview, and to my immense satisfaction, I loved the movie. It’s definitely one of my favorite of the summer (and easily my favorite of the second half of the summer). It’s also my favorite of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy. (My husband sort of agreed, but I get the feeling that he truly slightly prefers Hot Fuzz.) Maybe it’s just that I’ve been feeling so old lately, or maybe it’s that I’ve been increasingly suspicious of the wide-reaching influence of the internet, or maybe it’s that I’m sick of action movies with no character development, or maybe it’s that I prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream to strawberry and vanilla. Whatever the reason, The World’s End really worked for me. I enjoyed it from start to finish, even though the beginning’s a bit slow and the ending’s a bit weird. It delivered exactly what I expected and actually (to my delight) a bit more, as well.
The Good:
As someone who spends most of her free time writing novels that nobody publishes, I have to say that though I honestly loved several aspects of The World’s End, what appealed to me most was the writing. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have put together a brilliant screenplay, funny and relatively action packed but with a highly relevant, serious subtext (that eventually becomes the actual plot), immensely compelling characters (particularly Pegg’s character), and some charming touches that really won my admiration. As always, even though the movie calls itself a comedy, the characters themselves are experiencing mortal danger as they fight for their very survival in a life-changing, high-stakes journey of self-discovery.
Now I liked Shaun of the Dead (particularly the scenes Shaun imagines of rescuing his mother that involve Penelope Wilton skipping). But having just rewatched it over the weekend, I am quite sure when I say that I find it the weakest of the three films in terms of script. (Of course, as the first film, Shaun wins points for novelty. Back when it came out in 2004, nobody was expecting a self-proclaimed “zom-com.” Now the zom-com is on the verge of becoming a legitimate (and teeming) subgenre.) Shaun makes a clear and clever point—many young people sleepwalking through their lives without goals, dreams, or hope are basically zombies already—but by making that point so effectively, it gives us characters that are (and must be) kind of dull most of the time. Shaun himself is just a guy wandering aimlessly through a prolonged late adolescence until something makes him realize he must change or lose everything. Simon Pegg plays him well, but there’s not all that much to him, and he’s not really all that interesting until fairly late in the movie.
But right from scene one, The World’s End establishes Gary King as an eccentric, larger-than-life type character who demands to be the center of an interesting story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pegg play a character quite like King before. Both my husband and I really loved the pointed reversal of the usual Pegg and Frost formula. This time around, it’s Nick Frost’s character who has his act together and Simon Pegg who’s playing a needy, unstable goofball. He’s really wonderful at it, too. The character is so over-the-top. You’d think he fell out of Shakespeare or Dickens or Harry Potter. Some people might find Gary too much of a cliché, but I think he’s marvelous. Too often, the leads in action films (and even in comedies) seem vague and interchangeable. But there’s only one Gary King.
Maybe this will sound crazy, but I think when studios green-light big budget summer movie projects, they often forget a key ingredient of really successful films—characters. All the time lately, friends tell me that they prefer TV these days to movies. And why not? Most TV shows succeed because the audience gets attached to a charismatic set of characters. Maybe I just feel this way because I’m not big on mindless action and explosions, and I don’t mean to sound callous, but I think something like a car or house exploding on screen is much more interesting to the audience if we know and care about the people who might be inside.
The World’s End gives us a lovely set of characters, five (however unwilling) Musketeers, each of whom gets a compelling story arc. Everybody who follows Gary back to Newton Haven goes home for his own reasons. They all have a story, and we get to watch the drama play out onscreen.
Eddie Marsan’s had a long and seasoned career, but he first got my attention in Happy-Go- Lucky and I also associate him with the new Sherlock Holmes movies. He’s reasonably hard edged in both of those projects, so I didn’t expect him to turn up in this playing a character like Peter. He’s very good, though, and I found Peter’s backstory and driving source of personal torment one of the most interesting in the film. He has a quiet moment in the pub and a loud moment in the woods that pair quite nicely.
Martin Freeman (who is in the previous two Blood and Ice Cream films and is famous now as Watson in the BBC Sherlock and Bilbo in The Hobbit) is also good as Oliver. I loved his nickname (the reasoning behind it and how it became relevant again—like you kind of know it will the whole time because why else include those details).
Nick Frost seems surprisingly comfortable in a role that is dramatically against type. I’m amazed that he plays a character representing maturity, conformity, and respectability so powerfully. Amazingly, Frost is equally good at seeming wronged and wounded and shaming Pegg whether he plays the friend who’s been outgrown or the friend who’s done the outgrowing.
Paddy Considine’s Steven is probably the least interesting character. What’s fascinating, though, is that for a moment, Steven seems poised to take over the leading role in the film. He’s more the type of character who would ordinarily be the lead in an action film. He has numerous admirable qualities, romantic feelings for the right person, and the sort of vaguely generic presence that studio’s seem to look for in bankable action stars. So though I’d call him the least interesting of the core group, the character still has enough fascinating qualities to hold my attention.
There’s a fairly nice part for Rosamund Pike, too. I’ve always liked her (ever since I first saw her in Die Another Day, and it’s pretty hard to like someone when your introduction to them is Die Another Day). A sympathetic female character to round out the cast seems essential given that the other protagonists are a group of men whose goal is to get increasingly drunk. I mean, men who set out to drink a minimum of twelve pints of beer in one night may not always do or say things that night that would make their mothers’ proud. So if there’s a woman along for the ride, it’s much easier for the movie to side-step an unintentionally misogynistic tone.
Pike’s character also provides a love interest whose existence makes possible a pairing of romance and bromance. In the end, two couples come to a realization about the true meaning of their relationship. To be honest, Pike participated in many of my favorite moments of the movie.
Early on as I watched, I planned to comment at length on the topical subtext of the film, but then the longer I watched, the more the movie itself addressed the topic directly. So if you want to know what I’m talking about, see the movie.
I was also extremely pleased that The Soup Dragons’ “I’m Free” was actually used in the movie. It’s never been my favorite song, but after hearing it so often in the trailer, I kind of wanted to hear it again. Ordinarily, the songs that play in the trailer aren’t actually taken from the film, so that was a surprise treat! Actually, I really liked most of the songs that played in the movie. I might just buy the soundtrack.
Best Scene:
The first scene practically made the movie for me. It definitely hooked me. The movie owned me after that. Barring a serious misstep, I was its creature and would watch it dutifully to the finish.
The set-up is so simple, and yet so clear. It’s not so much Gary’s story. (Almost everyone has a story like that kicking around somewhere.) It’s how much the story means to Gary. When we see where he is telling it, we learn so much about him. And when he’s puzzled by one listener’s question, we learn even more about him. And when the listener rephrases the question to clarify, and we see the reaction on Gary’s face, we learn everything about him.
Best Scene Visually:
My favorite thing about the movie is the clever use of the “Out of Order” sign. From the first scene, I really liked The World’s End, but I fell in love with it when that sign showed up. Seriously, I went on and on about it in the car on the ride home from the theater. The phrase is so loaded with relevant meanings and applications. And then the sign later serves a practical purpose. And then later still you realize that in some ways, it’s the rallying cry of the entire movie. I could talk about it for ages, but I don’t want to spoil the movie.
Sheerly in terms of how things look, one of the best scenes involves Peter in the woods. The visual joke early on of the beers and the water is well done also.
Funniest Scene:
The trailer does contain some of the funniest moments in the movie. Oddly, though, they’re still funny in context even after being spoiled.
Not everything is spoiled, though. There’s a scene when several friends try to identify each other that’s good for quite a few laughs. And every time Pierce Brosnan shows up, it’s incredibly hard not to giggle. Just the fact that he is, indeed, Pierce Brosnan for some inane and inexplicable reason seems terribly funny. David Bradley is a scream as Basil, too. (The movie really plays up his potential for comedy, and it helps that most people probably know him as Argus Filch.)
I also think a moment punctuated by Nick Frost walking into a door is pretty great.
Best Action Sequence:
Funniest to me may be the scene involving the twins and Sam, which also gets my vote for Best Action Sequence. Runner up would have to be Gary’s race to the finish with Andy (and a legion of others) in hot pursuit.
The Negatives:
The only thing that truly disappointed me about The World’s End is that it has such a fascinating topical subtext, but then at the end, it just comes right out and says everything it’s hinted at and alluded to before. And when I say it comes right out and says it, I mean it quite literally says it in an actual conversation that becomes essential to the plot and any forward narrative progress. I do think it’s better when we’re allowed to connect the dots and fill in the gaps for ourselves (although I’m glad Bill Nighy gets a part).
From a narrative standpoint, the extreme nature of the ending may annoy some people, too (though personally, I liked it. There’s a moment with Nick Frost that made me think of Cloud Atlas and smile). This is also a movie that neatly wraps up every single loose end, so you don’t get to imagine a bunch of potential scenarios for yourself. Again, that wasn’t a problem for me, but it might annoy some.
Probably what most people who don’t respond positively to the film will find off putting is its slow start. I really liked the character of Gary, but if you don’t, the beginning of the movie is going to feel interminable and painfully protracted. If you’re in it for the robots, you have to wait quite a while until you actually see one. Personally, I would have loved the film even if the robots ended up not making an appearance after all, but the characters that I found so enthralling may not be to everyone’s tastes.
What really bothers me is that less than a full decade has passed since the premiere of Shaun of the Dead, and yet Simon Pegg appears to have aged at least one hundred years in that time. I guess that makes sense because I feel a hundred years older now than I was in 2004. But it is a little hard to wrap your mind around. How did the kid who took forever to become a grown up suddenly become somebody at the extreme back end of middle age looking back on a broken life in only nine years’ time?
Overall:
I’ve been dying to see The World’s End all summer, and I’m so glad I finally did. I loved it. For me, it’s the strongest installment in the Three Flavours Cornetto (aka Blood and Ice Cream) Trilogy (with Hot Fuzz next and Shaun of the Dead coming in third). You don’t need to see the previous collaborations of Wright, Pegg, and Frost to enjoy this movie, though. The World’s End is probably not going to be everybody’s favorite summer movie, but it was one of mine. At worst, it’s a pleasant way to kill a couple of hours, so why not give it a try?
And once you do see the movie, the one way to conclude this review becomes obvious. “Exit, pursued by a bear.”