THE WORLD’S END – The Review

What do many folks rapidly approaching middle age yearn for? Why it’s the title of a Springsteen anthem, “Glory Days”, a chance to recapture a moment from the golden past. This is an idea that Hollywood film makers have exploited in countless comedies and rom-coms, even in a sports films such as 1986’s BEST OF TIMES and fantasies like PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED. I wonder if the Brits might have a similar feeling? This week’s new release from across the pond answers that question (plus tosses in a few clever genre parodies). THE WORLD’S END concludes the so-called “Cornetto trilogy” (named after a popular UK frozen treat) begun with SHAUN OF THE DEAD and continued with HOT FUZZ. Edgar Wright directed  Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in all three (playing different characters in each), and co-wrote them with Pegg. The trio originally worked together on the cult classic Brit  TV sitcom “Spaced”. So, does this trilogy end in triumph (like TOY STORY) or fizzle (like THE GODFATHER)? Let’s belly to the bar…er multiplex, and spend a night with a few thirsty mates…

The film begins with a manic montage about an epic night 20 years ago when young Gary King and his four best pals from high school embarked on an overnight pub crawl. They would try to down a pint in every bar in their village, finishing in the wee hours over at “The World’s End”. But as the adult Gary (Pegg) relates the story of that long-ago misadventure, a member of his support group reminds him that the quest was never really completed. Suddenly Gary is a man with a mission. He will grab up his four estranged friends, travel to their home town, and recreate the great pub crawl. But these men are living quite different lives from the hard-partying emotionally stunted Gary. His very best bud Andy (Frost) is a straight-laced, married teetotaler. Oliver (Martin Freeman) is a preppy, successful real estate salesman. The timid Peter (Eddie Marsan) has a wife and two kids, and sells luxury automobiles for his bullying father. And Steven (Paddy Considine) runs a major construction firm and lives with his 26 year-old fitness instructor. After much pleading and deception, Gary gathers up the lads and they head to their old stomping grounds. All the pubs are there, but they’ve changed. They seem to be carbon copies right down to the beer on tap to the chalkboard food menu. Luckily Peter’s still gorgeous sister Sam (Rosamund Pike) shows up. Seems she was a conquest of Gary’s while Steven still carries a torch for her. The mood changes after Gary has an altercation with a young local that reveals that, yes, everything is not as it should be. Soon the five lads and one lady are running for their lives as Gary hopes to down that final pint at The World’s End before the world does end!

While the other films in the trilogy are team comedies (particularly with HOT FUZZ), it’s Pegg who carries this film, and not only because his character, Gary, really puts the plot in motion. In the years since “Spaced”, he’s proved a major asset in big studio Hollywood fare like the “Mission Impossible” franchise and JJ Abrams’s rebooted “Star Trek” film series. He’s even gotten to star in a couple flicks such as RUN, FATBOY, RUN. Pegg uses his considerable acting (and writing) skills to make Gary more than an out-of-control party machine. Yes, he’s a wild man, but he shows us the sadness behind the “good times” facade. To put a twist on a modern mantra “It never got better”, when he left school for the “real world”, he got kicked in the head. And the heart. Perhaps this pub crawl is a way for him to hit the ‘reset’ button. This puts a tragic spin on his dogged determination to drain every last glass. Also showing off his acting chops is Frost, usually the party animal in the other trilogy entries and the recent ATTACK THE BLOCK. Here he tries to be the voice of reason and moderation. Andy was Gary’s best pal, but he’s paid the price for his mate’s antics and wants him to just grow up. When the situation changes, Andy is able to call upon his youthful spirit and affection for his lost brother. Hobbit star Freeman gives Oliver a springy pep while shaking his head over Gary’s ways (and being horrified over the lust directed at his sister). Marsan is a great mousey nebbish who finally tosses off his family shackles in order to stand up to a childhood bully. Considine shows us a real conflicted man who scoffs at Gary’s excesses but realizes that he too may be trying to reclaim his youth with his much younger girlfriend. His reunion with Sam, the girl that got away, revitalizes him. Pike as that campus dream girl is still dazzling. Sure she’s still embarrassed over some past flings (Gary), but the years have given her wisdom and wit that truly enhance  her beauty. And she more than proves her value when the long night takes a turns for the fantastic.

That turn may be my main problem with the film. I recall some of the complaints leveled at the much beloved original FROM DUSK TO DAWN. More than a couple of friends were taken aback by the abrupt shift from gritty crime thriller to…whoops, don’t want to spoil it for you! I guess I can mention this about END since it’s been predominately shown in the trailers and in cast interviews. I was really enjoying the interplay of the actors, especially the motor-mouthed Pegg, and would’ve been content to be the sixth mate watching them go from bar to bar. But the film completely changes tone at the big bathroom fight. Mind, you it’s a terrific sequence as Gary dismantles a much younger, but artificial thug. Director Wright knows how to stage action as he showed in the underrated SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. But from then on it becomes an endless cycle of run, fight, and hide with elements of THE THING and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS tossed in. It grew more and more tiresome right through to the big debate with the forces behind the town take over. Of course SHAUN  did became a true zombie survival tale by mid-point, but FUZZ was able to hold on to the buddy cop parody through the film’s finale’. In END’s last moments it tosses away its boozy charms to become another bit of CGI disaster porn. I’ll still recommend it for the masterful work of Pegg and company as they trudge through their old haunts. But the final entry in this (mostly) entertaining trilogy deserves more than big budget studio pyrotechnics. I’ll still lift a frosty mug to Pegg, Frost, and Wright anytime! Maybe after a couple, they’ll discuss a new trilogy…eh?

4 Out of 5