REVIEW: The World’s End concludes the Cornetto trilogy with apocalyptic comedy

Izzi Harris, Film Analyst

Edgar Wright again teams up with best mates Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to create the final film in the “Cornetto Trilogy”, and arguably the greatest film of their careers – The World’s End.

Following hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World’s End features five men who return to their hometown to complete a legendary “Golden Mile”- that’s twelve pubs, sixty pints – and one night. Forced to give up in their teens by sheer drunkenness, they return home to relive their childhood golden days; only to find their hometown is not as they remember. Their journey quickly goes from nostalgic memory-trip into preventing Armageddon when something ‘out of this world’ takes over the quaint English town of Newton Haven.

Starring actor and co-writer Simon Pegg, who played co-spy Benji in the last three Mission Impossible movies and Scotty in the new “Star Trek”. A master of comic screenplays, Pegg displays his touch via lines like, “WTF, Gary?!”/ “What the f*** does WTF mean?!”

Pegg portrays Gary King, a broken, Peter Pan-esque character who is introduced talking his way through rehab and refuses to live anywhere but the past. Clothed in a dark trenchcoat, black aviators and an irrepressible grin, King alone convinces his four childhood friends (most notably portrayed by Nick Frost and Martin Freeman) to follow him on what he sees as a journey to end all journeys – with perhaps a darker, more tragic motive lying underneath.

Directing and co-writing with Pegg is Edgar Wright, who most recently developed Baby Driver. Known for his quick and distinctive style, Wright gives us one of the most entertaining fight sequences of the last ten years – look closely at the credits, and you’ll see it has something to do with him borrowing Jackie Chan’s choreographer.

Wright’s merging of action, comedy and drama, alongside incredible foreshadowing skills (the title refers to the name of the final pub in the “Golden Mile” – but does it also mean something more?) paired with Pegg’s quick wit, The World’s End will leave viewers with their mouths wide open.

The best comedies are always the ones with the most heart – what, after all, is the point of laughing at characters we feel no attachment to? Living up to its own title, this movie takes what it means to be a friend and to grow up, and pairs it with a legendary pub crawl and possible robot invasion.

Watch if you loved: Anchorman, Baby Driver, anything Monty Python and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.