Director Edgar Wright has once again delivered a great genre film that doubles as a comedy in “The World’s End.”
The movie follows Simon Pegg as the character Gary King. Gary and his best friends originate from a small town in England and when they were younger, they attempted a pub crawl called “The Golden Mile.” The crawl has a total of 12 pubs, the last one being The World’s End, however, the group never made it there.
Fast forward to the present and Gary is the least successful out of his friends and is struggling through life. To recapture the good times, he gets his old group back together, which includes Andy, played by Nick Frost, Oliver, played by Martin Freeman, Peter played by Eddie Marsan and Steven played by Paddy Considine and once again attempt the Golden Mile.
As the group travels through town, though, they begin to notice odd things going on and it turns out there has been an alien invasion. Despite this going on, Gary’s No. 1 goal remains getting to The World’s End and finishing the pub crawl.
Edgar Wright, along with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, have worked together in the past making the zombie film “Shaun of the Dead,” and the buddy cop action movie “Hot Fuzz.” Their latest endeavor shows they know what they’re doing when it comes to making genre films and making them funny.
The story flows well in “The World’s End,” as Wright is able to balance a wacky sci-fi plot with a fantastic comedy. What takes it to a higher level is that, like the previous two movies, it has well developed characters. With that, the movie becomes more relatable. The plot doesn’t stumble or falter and runs smoothly, which is a good thing as it is just under two hours.
Having appeared together in multiple movies in the past, both Pegg and Frost are great and have a fantastic on-screen chemistry. What’s more impressive is the rest of the group who joins them this time around also works well. The acting provides believability in the characters’ strained friendship. There were also some fun smaller appearances by actors like Pierce Brosnan, who had some great lines.
Part of the brilliance on how the crew works on this movie is they are able to pay homage and satire a genre at the same time, and have a fun time doing so. This is evident in the action choreography. There were many fight scenes that were imaginative, exciting and laugh out loud funny.
Out of the three films that Edgar Wright and company have worked on, I’d say that “Hot Fuzz” is still the best. However, all three of them are made at a very high quality. “The World’s End” has fantastic, witty and sharp writing. The dialogue is delivered well and the chemistry is there with these actors and the action sequences show that the makers of the film get the genre the movie is trying to capture.
There are a couple of jokes that didn’t hit as much and a couple of points that drag just a bit, but overall, this one fires on nearly all cylinders. High 4 out of 5.
This review was first published in the Aug. 30, 2013 issue of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Matthew Liedke on Film 