The Worlds End is the final instalment of the Cornetto trilogy and it’s mint!
Can someone please invent more Cornetto flavours? Perhaps then we’ll see more Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright collaborations. For those confused by my ice-cream references, let me explain…
Back in 2004, Shaun of the Dead (Directed by Wright and starring Pegg and Frost) won over critics and audiences alike. The British zombie comedy featured a strawberry Cornetto, with the red signifying the films bloody and gory elements. Wright, Pegg and Frost later collaborated again with Hot Fuzz – this time featuring the original blue Cornetto, representing the police element to the film. And now, with The Worlds End, we’re treated to the mint choc-chip flavour as a nod to the science fiction concept.
It’s been six years since our comedy trio teamed up with Hot Fuzz. In the years since, each has gone on to do bigger things, but not better (in my opinion). Wright, Pegg and Frost work best together, as proven once again with The Worlds End.
This apocalyptic comedy opens to a group of teenagers attempting the ‘golden mile’, an epic pub crawl in their boring home town of Newton Haven. Unfortunately they fail to reach the 12th and final boozer, The World’s End. Around 20 years later, Gary King (Simon Pegg) still looks at that evening as being the best night of his life. Therefore the persistent Goth sets out to get the gang back together to finish what they had failed to complete all those years ago.
Unfortunately for Gary, unlike himself, his friends (Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan) have grown up. Their priorities now involve marriage, children and work. But as Gary has a way of wearing people down, the group reluctantly team up again.
It soon becomes clear that it’s not just themselves that have changed. Their old haunts have turned into characterless chain pubs, and much like something taken out of The Stepford Wives, the locals are not what they seem. By pub three we discover the residents of Newton Haven are out to get our old friends. Strangely though, no matter how dangerous things become, Gary is able to convince the group that they must complete the pub crawl.
This became a big distraction, and took me out of the movie a few times. I kept thinking how if I had come face-to-face with impending doom, the last thing I’d be worried about is the next pub on my list. If you can get past the daftness of this, you’ll get a lot more out of the 109 minutes.
Pegg and Frost have both progressed as actors since Shaun of the Dead. They both look a lot more comfortable in front of the camera, and it’s refreshing to see Frost play a much bigger role than his usual bumbling right-hand-man role.
As predicted, this British comedy has a striking similarity to last month’s This is the End. This is however, a better written and more polished apocalyptic flick.
Overall the final instalment of the Cornetto trilogy takes a while to get going, is slightly patchy in parts, but is a REALLY FUN movie. Fans of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz will not be disappointed.
Mikey Clarke
Genre: Sci-fi & Comedy.
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, David Bradley, Eddie Marsan, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine&Rosamund Pike.
Running Time: 109 mins.
Director: Edgar Wright.
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