The World's End 2013
This is the third movie in a trilogy of similar movies by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. I saw them out of order, watching Hot Fuzz first then eventually buying Shaun of the Dead blind and then also buying this one blind several years after it came out (and therefore on sale). Hot Fuzz was entertaining but kind of lost me when the zombies showed up. I didn’t mind the zombies as much in Shaun of the Dead because it was a zombie movie and really more of a spoof of one, while still pretty much being a zombie movie albeit one that is also about a grown man finally growing up.
In this movie, even though these are different characters, you kind of know what you are getting into. Most of the themes are similar as are some of the cast (though playing against type, particularly Nick Frost playing a teetotaling businessman). There have been a number of movies that explore how time affects a group of friends from youth and why you can’t go back. The Big Chill took it more seriously, while other movies like Grosse Pointe Blank and Hot Tub Time Machine took it a lot less seriously but still with some sharp observations. The World’s End is built on that too while it is still trying to be funny with an action twist that I won’t reveal, but you can guess and wouldn’t be far off. Like its predecessors, you can ding this movie for not seeming to know what type of movie it wants to be, but because this is the third one, you know this is exactly what Winter and Pegg want it to be. Their enjoyment of the material helps the audience enjoy it as well, so it kind of works. It isn’t always that funny, not always that suspenseful, not always that insightful, but it certainly has all of those things. I’m not a dues-paying member of the Cornetto cult by any means, but the movies have grown on me and are fun to watch. So I will give this one a B+ like I did for Shaun of the Dead.
Written: 10 Jun 2018
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital