Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.
The World's End marks the third part of Pegg and Wright's self-described "Cornetto trilogy" (with Shaun and Fuzz). It's an appropriate moniker. With this final film they've slowed down a bit, grown up a lot. And saved the richest bite until last.
Wright and Pegg have hit on something interesting; a generation which mainlines nostalgia, yet gets discomfited by real reminders of its past. The trouble is, The World’s End has all sorts of other things on its mind too – the pressures of British drinking culture, reminders that fences and Cornettos featured in Pegg and Wright’s earlier, funnier films too, and ooh, look, a famous guest star.
A heady brew.
Bravely refusing to rigidly adhere to a formula that has been so successful, Wright, Pegg and Frost’s Cornetto Trilogy closer has tonal shifts you won’t expect, but the same beating heart you’ve been craving.
The in-jokes, movie references galore and some A-list cameos keep you entertained while Pegg, bless him, remains quite heroically prattish.
All involved have deservedly become Hollywood players, and, for Working Title and Universal Pictures, Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost have become a comedy brand to rival Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant. They've done it by making comedies with real laughs.
A little too long, perhaps, but highly amusing, and handsomely photographed (Bill Pope) and designed (Marcus Rowland).
A proper draught, and no nasty additives.
The World's End has less ideas and charm than its predecessors and feels more boisterously male (Rosamund Pike barely gets a look in as Oliver's sister) but it's a measure of the talent involved that it's still raucously witty enough to have you in stitches right up until they call time.
Well, there is certainly some neat repurposing of old sci-fi tropes, even if the action scenes do become somewhat bloated and repetitive in the third act. And despite the bathos, The World's End succeeds as a cheerful celebration of pub culture, blokeish banter and early-Nineties indie hits.
It's fine in its way, a fond and silly salute to pub crawls, old friends, crap cars, roundabouts, British eccentricity and keeping your head in a crisis – it's just terribly hit-and-miss.
In some ways, The World’s End is the weakest and least funny of Wright and co’s Three Flavour’s Cornetto trilogy, but in others it’s the most emotionally engaging and relatable. Even if much of the good work is slightly let down by a frustratingly unsatisfying final fifteen minutes.
General release. Check local listings for show times.