The World’s End – review

The World’s End is a sci-fi comedy by director Edgar Wright. Considered the third of the “Cornetto trilogy” following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  The story is very off-the-wall and fitting like a mixture of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  The acting is fun and the movie itself is okay, considering its decent effects and good fight scenes.  Where it loses me is the bizarre ending and the absolutely atrocious writing of the main character.

Gary King, played by Simon Pegg, is a loser who is mentally stuck in the 90’s. His only fond memory is a pub-crawl he and four friends set out to complete in the 90’s.  He lies to his friends to trick them into returning to the small town to reenact the same pub-crawl with the goal of finishing it this time.  Without warning they are attacked by robots.  They then decide to continue the pub-crawl regardless of the robots, which ends at the World’s End pub.

The acting is fun for the most part.  Nick Frost as Andy is very entertaining.  However, the star of the film, Simon Pegg, is painful.  He is obnoxious, annoying, sexist, pathetic, and a terrible hero.  It would have been really helpful if the writers wrote him some redeeming qualities- instead they made him into a total jerk and expect us to care when he reveals he is depressed. His friends are much more charming and funny than he is. This type of character might sound familiar to anyone who saw Hot Tub Time Machine.

The audience seemed to really enjoy this movie and I can agree it has many funny parts. Some of the jokes come off mean spirited and lowbrow, which seems different for this writer. I do think that it is the weakest of the trilogy.  It felt like there were lots of little winks to the audience, which is not necessary for this type of movie.  The ending seemed like it backed the characters into a corner and wanted to wrap things up quickly.   

The World’s End is an okay movie.  The humor is really not as strong as past films and the main character is wildly unlikable. The fun comes from watching the uptight characters cutting loose. The action scenes are good but that’s not enough to make it theater worthy.  I’d recommend it for a rental if you are into British humor or the other titles of the “Cornetto trilogy.”