The World’s End is the third and final film of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (also known as The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy) created by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost. It is about five friends reuniting after twenty years to complete an infamous pub crawl in their hometown. The pubs include: The First Post, The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands, The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King’s Head, The Hole in the Wall, and, of course, The World’s End.
While Shaun of the Dead was a straight up zombie horror film and Hot Fuzz was more of a buddy cop film, The World’s End takes on the sci-fi genre. Although it is not as funny as the previous two films, I still found it pretty damn hilarious in its own right, and it very well may be my favorite of the trilogy. The writing is very top notch here. It has the best character development of the trilogy by far. This is the first film of the three that I’ve actually given a shit about the characters as human beings. There is some real emotional depth here. Even during the scenes where the plot does not have much going for it, the characters are so well written and performed that they keep the film strong.
Wright did something different here, which I really admired. As opposed to the first two films, in The World’s End it is Frost who is the straight man and Pegg who plays the wildcard. They execute their roles very, very well. Especially Simon Pegg, who is fucking outstanding in this. Seriously, he really outdid himself in this film.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the action scenes. The choreography here is goddamn spectacular. It made the fighting a blast to watch and gets me really excited to see Wright’s Ant-Man.
The film also reminded me a bit of From Dusk ’til Dawn wherein halfway through the film the plot suddenly changes completely. These random genre leaps in films can be very dangerous, but also like in From Dusk ’til Dawn, The World’s End does not disappoint. The change-up is, yes, a bit random, but done very well.
Fans of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz will also love the hell out of this, and if they’re anything like me, they’ll be watching it more times than they can count.
So in conclusion, The World’s End is another slice of fried gold and you should go watch it immediately.