This
was shown as part of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto
Trilogy. The first two parts were Shaun of the
Dead and Hot Fuzz. Due to a Cornetto induced
brain freeze I missed the screening of Shaun of
the Dead and just managed to see most of Hot
Fuzz before The World’s End graced Screen 13 of
the Plymouth Vue cinema.
I’d already seen the first two films on TV (the
shame), but it was great to see Hot Fuzz on the
big screen in all its frantic glory. Much like
the Midsomer Murders TV series, it shows that
beneath the charm and beauty of the traditional
English town or village there is a seething
hotbed of Evil.
The World’s End re-visits Newton Haven, where
five school friends planned to carry out an epic
pub crawl on 22 June 1990. They never completed
it, and Gary King (Simon Pegg) decides it is
time the old gang got together to drink their
way to the appropriately named The World’s End
pub. As in Hot Fuzz, things are not what they
appear to be.
Whilst Gary is still trying to keep alive his
rebellious youth, his friends Andy (Nick Frost),
Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin
Freeman) and Peter (Eddie Marsan) have settled
down to relatively normal and uneventful
lives. As they follow the 'golden mile'
pub crawl they all come across as disillusioned
with how their lives have turned out. Everything
has come predictable and controlled by anonymous
organisations, even the pubs they visit look the
same. They soon discover that the population of
the town has literally been taken over by alien
robots. I must confess that I’m a sucker for
killer robot movies, and this one doesn’t
disappoint.
It is a parody of Hollywood Armageddon flicks
and references, or is at least related, to the
likes of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Dirty
Dozen, The Magnificent Seven and the Terminator
series.
Simon Pegg is brilliantly manic in his portrayal
of Gary, and like the previous films in the
Cornetto Trinity it shows a group of friends
battling to come to terms with their own
humanity and the world around them.
