The Worlds End Movie Review
‘The Worlds End’ reunites Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and
director Edgar Wright for a third time in this Sci-Fi comedy. The two previous
films in the Cornetto trilogy are arguably two of the best comedies in the last
decade, but where Shaun of the Dead
and Hot Fuzz succeeded in its fresh
comedy running throughout the spine of their movies, The Worlds End falls a bit
flat.
‘The Worlds End’ begins showing you the story of five
teenage friends, Gary King (Simon Pegg), Andrew Knightley (Nick Frost), Oliver
(Martin Freeman), Peter (Eddie Marsan) and Steven Prince (Paddy Considine),
that fail in their attempt of the ‘Golden Mile’, a challenge whereby they must
drink one pint in twelve pubs in one night ending at the Worlds End Pub. Skipping
thirty years later where the friends have all drifted away from both their
childhood home town and away from each other, we focus in on Gary King, the
childhood leader of the group and now alcoholic, as he sets off to reunite the
pack to take on the challenge once more.
On returning to their hometown they soon discover that
things aren’t as they remember. No one remembers them and it soon becomes clear
that the majority of the town folk are now aliens with the few odd humans
trapped inside the small town.
The challenge that The Worlds End mounts upon itself from
the start is that it’s a lot harder to attach yourself to the main character,
Gary King, as it was in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Gary King is less
likable, he is an alcoholic and all he is fixated on is completing the ‘Golden
Mile’. He’s more of a dreamer re-living his childhood memories and hasn’t grown
up and got a job as have his other friends. At the same time you get the sense
that his friends are everything to him, but due to the lack of compassion you
see from his character towards his friends and by learning about his actions during
Andrew’s incident you soon realise that his friends don’t mean that much and
are more of a passage to get Gary back to his past memories. You find yourself
not really caring what happens to his character by the end of the movie.
The second downfall to this movie is that before it’s even
started the expectation for comedic greatness is high due to the success of the
previous two instalments in the Cornetto trilogy. It seems bizarre how three
comedy films, one horror, one action and now one Sci-Fi have all been wrapped
up into a trilogy rather than just being standalone movies. This hype hasn’t
really helped The Worlds End as it’s nowhere near as funny, that saying it’s
still not a bad movie.
The movie’s opening is quite slow and is more focused on
feeding us the story and introducing the characters than making us laugh, a
formula not used in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz where the laughs were all
throughout. While those two films were hilarious this is just funny in parts.
The middle of this movie is where the bulk of the comedy is
situated that will draw a laugh out of anyone with a typical sense of humour. Along
with the appearance of a Mint Chocolate Cornetto in The Worlds End, (Shaun of
the Dead showcasing a Strawberry flavour, representing the blood, the Blue Original
Cornetto in Hot Fuzz, representing the police and The Worlds End showing a Mint
Chocolate flavour, representing the Aliens) you also get the wooden panel fence
gag that was present in the other two movies. Though the gag is now nine years
old, they are all slightly tweaked and it will still create a laugh. The middle
is bar far the best part of this movie for both entertainment and comedy.
The final segment on the other hand isn’t so great. The
story becomes very confusing and almost absent from comedy with only a few
brief comedic moments. It could have been executed better with an alternate
story ending.
The acting is very good from everyone, even the cameo
appearances from Pierce Brosnan and David Bradley. The stand outs though are
Martin Freeman, Pegg and Frost. Freeman has become a greater actor over the
past few years since his acting in ‘The Hobbit’ and TV show ‘Sherlock’, his
expertise can be seen in this movie and he delivers a top performance in this
movie. Pegg and Frost on the other hand seem to spark when they act alongside
each other and fit together perfectly. This extra morale you see makes their
performance appear very natural and very easy to watch. Pegg and Frost together
successfully constructs this new relationship with each other. Where in Shaun
of the Dead they are best friends and Hot Fuzz they become friends they are now
two forty year old blokes that fail to re-kindle there childhood friendship all
throughout this movie. They both portray it perfectly and it’s great to see how
Edgar Wright has changed up their relationship rather than fatiguing the same
one first seen nine years ago in Shaun of the Dead.
The only thing that could be faulted with the acting would
be somewhat of a spoiler so if you haven’t seen the move yet don’t read the rest
of this paragraph and skip to the line starting “Despite”. The only thing that
you can really criticise is the reaction from the characters once Oliver and
Peter die. Imminently it doesn’t appear natural. You get this second of empathy
and then after that the event seems to be forgotten and with Oliver’s sister,
Sam (Rosamund Pike), you get nothing.
Despite the confusing ending ‘The Worlds End’ deserves to be
separated from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz that ultimately was a tall order
to topple. Once you separate the hype factor brought along from the two
previous films in the Cornetto trilogy then you still have a decent comedy
movie. No it isn’t as good as the two previous films in the trilogy and it
isn’t as funny but The Worlds End stands out as a good Sci-Fi movie with a deep
story, enriching you in what feels like a more experienced acting performance
from Pegg and Frost than seen in their previous collaborations. Comedy isn’t
present as frequently as many people are going to expect but you still get
those hilarious moments that will bring about a laugh from the majority that
see it, mainly during the middle part of this movie.
No it’s not the most hilarious comedy to grace our screens
in the past few years and yes The Worlds End feels a step down from Shaun of
the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but by no means is this a bitter end to the Cornetto
trilogy, this is still not to be missed.
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