THE WORLD'S END Review

THE WORLD’S END Review

By Darin Skaggs

     How people decide to watch a film is usually based on an actor they really like or what genre they are fond of.  I however go into a movie because of a director.  Edgar Wright has only made three films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  He made a short lived television series called Spaced.  All of these products are amazing and among some of my favorite films.  His discovery is near flawless.  And that brings me to The World’s End.  It shows how amazing Wright is as a filmmaker.  This film is on the weaker side of his films, but I would still call it amazing.

     The World’s End is a film about a near forty year old man named Gary King who decides to get his old friends back together to do the “pub crawl”. One night, twelve pubs, and it all ends with the twelfth pub called The World’s End.  They tried this once before the day they were done with High School and it did not go well.  King though says it was the greatest night of his life and nothing has lived up to it since. All the friends agree and return to their home town with King.  It is apparent even before they get into town that this means more than just reliving a few memories for King.

     That is what makes Wright so brilliant, he makes some of the most hilarious films ever made but also there are always some subtle yet emotional things happening with the characters. All of the films are about friendship, both Shaun and Hot Fuzz are about Simon Pegg’s and Nick Frost’s friendships and Scott Pilgrim literally earns the power of self-respect because he helps the people that have been helping him his whole life.  Hot Fuzz is about not judging a group of people until you get to know them.  Shaun shows a man going through the stages of growing up in the midst of a zombie attack.  He has to say goodbye to his mother and move on, like every young adult at one point, though it’s not usually because they have turned into a zombie.  The World’s End is also about friendship and how growing up means you can lose some people who once meant the world to you.  It also has a theme of alcoholism.  King is nearly forty and he drinks at every pub he can, even though that was the plan, his drinking is so much harder to watch because you know he is just drinking his sorrows away.

     Shaun, Fuzz and Scott are some of the funniest films of all time.  The World’s End which is still very funny is not as funny as all the other Wright films.  There are great laughs; Nick Frost as usual is the comedy king.  He is one of the greatest psychical comedians of our time.  The editing is brilliant making many of the jokes and the actors, along with the writing get plenty of laugh out loud moments. Yet, there is something missing from this film that I can’t quiet put my finger on, but I would still watch this film in a heartbeat.

     Now in all of Wrights film he takes on a genre and makes it his own, with a dash of comedy.  It is not a parody; there are parts of the genre he is honoring.  Shaun was the horror film, Fuzz is the action genre and Scott is a play on video games.  The World’s End takes on Science Fiction.  Just like all the other films, it takes after the first act for the characters and even us to realize that the film is taking on the genre.  It is used well and goes back to the whole 1950’s style of the genre with homages to films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day the Earth Stood Still.  The conclusion is one of the funnier parts of the film. The very end of the film came out of nowhere and is a pleasant surprise. Throughout the film though there are fight scenes, which I was not totally on board with.  They are meant to embody classic wrestling moves.  There was no reason these characters should be so good at fighting or any real reason why they should do this in the situations.  This hurt the film a bit, being a little too silly.

     This film is not perfect, but I would give another point to Wright.  He’s got four amazing movies and will probably have many more to come.  The World’s End is a must see for any sci-fi, comedy or Edgar Wright fan.