The World’s End, the third film in Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy following Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, definitely serves to impress many fans of the two preceding cult films but may lose some with its controversial message. The World’s End, which hit theaters on Aug. 23, quickly explains the context for the entirety of the film in what seems like a cocaine-driven rush of information at the very beginning.
Gary King, played by Simon Pegg, tells the story of an adolescent pub crawl he made with his entourage upon finishing school. The pub crawl included 12 pubs all titled humorously and ended with a pub sharing the film’s title.
Unfortunately, according to King, the gang never made it to the final pub, leading to King’s idea to try the pub crawl again 20 years later. Ultimately his childish antics and tagalong, pushover friends inadvertently become humankind’s only hope for survival.
It isn’t necessary to watch the previous films in the trilogy if you haven’t already, as the plots run independently of one another.
The amazing aspects of this film are its utter simplicity and uniqueness despite its distinctive connection with its trilogy counterparts. The World’s End shares its style, quick-witted and dry British humor and formulaic plot structure, not to mention tagalong characters and the signature “fence and Cornetto gag” from the previous films.
The film also conveys a manifest love of filmmaking shared amongst the producing team that echoes with hilarity and fun that is almost impossible for the audience to resist and will leave the viewer aching to join the gang.
As soon as the film’s leading contextual rollercoaster is over, the pace quickly settles to a comfortable rate and stays on a smooth, enclosed course that evokes no desire to elaborate on extraneous happenings.
The film’s controversial quality is nothing to write home about. It’s only when the film wraps up in its final few awing and rather unbelievable moments that the message comes full circle and the audience is left to ponder.
This level of profundity that has been very subdued – if not entirely absent – from the first two films altogether may leave hardcore fans of this trilogy excluding this film when determining their favorite of the series.
One thing is certain: Edgar Wright’s filmmaking abilities clearly require no further investigation. What will he do next? The three films of the Cornetto trilogy have a very distinctive style and have mustered enough attention to hold Wright to high standards regarding his next project’s originality.