The World's End

With The World's End, director Edgar Wright and comic stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost conclude their so-called "Cornetto Trilogy", a series of extremely loosely connected films that started with 2004's Shaun of the Dead, continued with 2007's Hot Fuzz, and supposedly ends here.  If this truly is the end for the team, I will say this - While the films may not have the strongest connections between them, they all share one thing in common - They are all tightly written comedies that contain little to no filler, strongly constructed characters, and more heart and warmth than one might initially expect.  For one film alone to have these qualities is something special, but three in a row is almost unheard of.

If Shaun of the Dead parodied zombie movies, and Hot Fuzz mainly targeted buddy cop films, then The World's End can best be described as a spoof of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with perhaps a little bit of The Stepford Wives put in for good measure.  And yet, the word "spoof" doesn't seem to do the movie justice, as it really does so much more than just poke fun at an established movie or genre.  The screenplay by Wright and Penn is well thought out, delivering not just big laughs, but also plenty of character development, and even some genuine emotion and sorrow.  When you stop and think back on the film, there is a kind of vibe of sadness that hovers over the film.  And yet, it does not dampen its attempts at humor, or turn the characters into sad sacks.  This is a highly entertaining and frequently laugh out loud funny film, and were it not for the somewhat similar This is the End, it would probably rank as my favorite comedy of the summer. (Is it odd that two of my favorite comedies this summer revolve around an apocalyptic event that almost wipes out all humanity?)

The film kicks off with Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-something guy who's pretty much spent his whole adult life living in the past.  In particular, he's stuck on his memories of one certain night - June 22nd, 1990.  That was the night that he and his closest friends graduated from high school, and embarked on an epic "Pub Crawl", where they dried to drink one pint of beer from all 12 taverns along a route affectionately referred to as the Golden Mile.  They did not succeed in drinking at all 12 bars in a single night, but ever since then, Gary has held onto that one night as a crowning glory.  Pretty much everyone who joined him that night has moved on, and are living regular adult lives.  But Gary refuses to let go of his younger glory days, driving the same car and even listening to the same music that he did back in 1990.

Driven by nostalgia, Gary decides to gather up his friends from way back when, embark on another mission to do what they could not 23 years ago, and visit all 12 taverns.  His friends are reluctant to join him at first, but eventually give in thanks to some manipulation on Gary's part. (He tells them his mother recently passed away, and he wants to reconnect with them.) His friends, who were once his wild high school drinking and garage band buddies, are now straight laced individuals with families and concerns of their own.  They include Pete (Eddie Marsan), who works for his father's auto dealer, Steven (Paddy Considine), a contractor, Oliver (Martin Freeman), a realtor, and Andy (Nick Frost), a lawyer.  Andy, in particular, was once Gary's closest friend, the two being inseparable until a fateful night in their friendship that neither likes to talk about tore them apart.  Regardless, Andy comes along for the ride, and the five friends return to their hometown to embark on Gary's mad quest to recapture the past.

The main message of The World's End is that no matter how hard you try, you really can't go back home, and things will never be the same as you remember them.  However, this movie adds a Sci-Fi twist to that idea.  As they return to the town they grew up in, they immediately sense that something is a little bit off about the people.  Everybody seems way too quiet and mannered, and walks in a stiff, almost programmed way.  Since the film's ad campaign has pretty much already revealed what's going on, I feel it's safe to say here - Almost everyone that the guys grew up with have been replaced with a robot replica in part of an invasion campaign by alien forces.  With the invasion set to spread, the five friends find themselves at the forefront of the battle for humanity.  By the way, the title of this film has a double meaning - It not only refers to the robot apocalypse that is brewing in their sleepy little burg, but it's also the name of the last bar on the legendary pub crawl that Gary is determined to complete, whether or not killer robots are on his tail.

Co-writer and director, Edgar Wright, really is pulling off a difficult juggling act of tone here, as he mixes broad slapstick humor, Sci-Fi horror, emotional scenes between former friends who have long parted ways and probably shouldn't be trying to mend things, and even some expertly staged action sequences that thankfully don't rely on shaky cam, like a lot of movies this summer have.  And then there is the dialogue, which is frequently funny and sharp, but also flies so fast, the film will probably require a second viewing just to get the ones you missed the first time.  This is one of those movies where you sometimes find yourself laughing, and then are kind of disappointed you did, as you wind up missing the next joke.  That's how fast the jokes fly here, and nearly all of them hit.

And yet, this is a much deeper movie than just being a funny comedy.  Like I said, there is an air of sadness in its overall theme of letting go of the past, as well as the obvious dark elements that the robot invasion brings.  The movie even manages to build a small amount of suspense, as you're never really sure how things are going to turn out, or who will make it through the night of the invasion.  These elements really do show the great amount of care and thought that went into the screenplay, and it carries through in the final film, with some wonderful lead performances.  Speaking of the performances, Nick Frost in particular impresses here, as he's mainly playing the straight man, instead of the silly sidekick that he's usually played alongside Pegg in their past films.  He still gets laughs, but there's also some drama to his performance as well, especially during the scenes when he is forced to confront the fateful night in his past with Gary.

This is a movie that surprised me.  I walked in hoping for a funny film, and I got it, but it's also a lot more heartfelt than you might think.  If The World's End is truly the last collaboration between Wright, Pegg and Frost (and I'm hoping it's not), then at least it is a fitting end to a truly great and intelligent comic team.

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