Review: 'The World's End'

What is it about the british that makes them so funny and clever? Ever since Monty Python's Flying Circus, I believe comedy has been changed because of them, for the better. Maybe it's the polite sounding british accents speaking ridiculously absurd phrases that makes it so funny, I don't know. The point is, they have left a huge impact, and I would find it hard to believe that the filmmakers to this film (and trilogy) were not influenced by the Python.

Director Edgar Wright, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have created one wild trilogy of films, filled with blood, laughs and ice-cream (by the way, there's a terrific 'Cornetto' gag in this particular film which 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz' fans will get a kick out of).

 In the ultimate pub crawl, Gary King (Simon Pegg), who has screwed up his life, having nothing better to live for, wants to reunite with his high school friends to finish what they started, twenty years in the past: twelve pints, at twelve pubs, the last being the 'World's End', in their hometown. The only problem is, in the midst of their quest, they learn that the town has been taken over by aliens.

And all the fun and chaos ensues from there.

What I really admired about this film, and the previous two films as well, was despite having crazy amounts of humor and violence, they manage to get some really heart wrenching moments of character development and emotions in there, adding things that make these characters feel all the more believable and like the very people we know in our own daily lives. I also like how the roles for the actors have been reversed in every movie. One who played the respectable cop and/or manager, previously, is now playing the slob, jerk loser. And the one who played the complete screw up, previously, is now a respectable businessman.

There are times where I did feel like the humor wasn't as fresh, funny or clever as 'Hot Fuzz', admittedly. Even the technicalities of the film, editing and camera-wise, felt a little lazy during some scenes and not as upbeat and quick-flowing from either 'Shaun of the Dead' or 'Hot Fuzz'. But, then again, that did allow me to focus more clearly on the story that was unfolding, one little bit at a time, and I have little complaints about that.

I really enjoyed this film. In a summer of fairly poor rehashes, flops and unoriginality, 'The World's End' was a good slice of redemption to going to the movies. Is the movie perfect? No. But it has enough clever gags and a surprising amount of heart and soul to overshadow it's problems. This is the best film I have seen all summer.

My rating: 3.5 / 4