Film Review: The World's End

For many people, there's that certain phase in life where they're crazy, sloppy, reckless party animals. It comes, it goes, some people move on and mature, but others don't and perpetually go back to the clubs and bars to have the time of their lives. The World's End starts off with a simple premise - four older gentlemen reuniting to re-attempt a pub crawl they conducted in their youth - and it takes off from there in pretty wild directions. The film blends in familiar plot elements from the other two films in the "Cornetto Trilogy" - Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz - but with its firm focus on the most epic pub crawl ever, the film delves into thrilling and amusing new territory.

The comedy in this film is generally good: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and the rest of the cast continue to manipulate sharp dialogue, witty word puns, crazy situations, and strong characterizations to illicit decent laughs. It takes a little while for the main action to pick up, but even when the big brawling scenes aren't taking place, the film maintains consistent pacing all the way through.

I was personally pleased with the story though: it takes place over a single night, but it crams in so much characterization that it's rather compelling. The core story borrows from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, swapping out the "pod people" with machines (or "blanks" as the case may be) that remind me so much of the Suzuki robots from Gantz. It's the characters that drive the story though, not only through their discoveries and conflicts, but also with their rich backgrounds and psychologies, which dig up some very strong themes regarding friendship, maturity, aging, and being human overall. From the middle of the film onward, it struck me that much of this film is about the differences between those who live wild and free and those who don't - or perhaps the squares vs the rebels, or literally, the robots vs people. Regardless of how you look at it, the final message is that humans can't be inherently conditioned or reprogrammed to be obedient or conformist slaves. The ultimate conclusion is that "we wanna be free, we wanna be free to do what we wanna do, and we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time!" Even for a square like myself, I found this message most inspiring.

If there's anything wrong with this movie, it's just that things get a little incredulous. The fight scenes seem a little out-of-place, with the unassuming characters busting out crazy robot-slaying moves at every chance they get. I started to wonder whether or not these events were truly plausible in modern times. It's also a little incredulous to believe that these guys would actually continue through all 12 pubs in their crawl, even though they sense danger from #6 onwards.  Regardless, these few nitpicks didn't really break the film for me.

This film uses decent photography - it gets a little jittery during the fight scenes, but it is solid everywhere else. Editing is decent. Acting is top-notch: Simon Pegg is at his most outrageous here, and steals the show throughout. Nick Frost flexes some decent acting muscle, portraying a decent range of emotion, without sacrificing the comedy. Everybody else is good. Writing is loaded with great lines. This production uses authentic-looking sets, props, and costumes. Special effects are generally okay. Music is pretty good.

This film surpassed my expectations and delivered a rich story to accompany its rich comedy. It comes close to being my favorite of the three movies these guys have made (Hot Fuzz still being my favorite), and unless you're some kind of soulless machine, it comes recommended.

4.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Perfect | Film: Very Good)