The World's End

By: Robert Murphy

It’s finally happened everybody, the next Simon Pegg and Nick Frost joy ride has come to the big screen and as you might expect, it doesn’t disappoint. The story revolves around a group of five former friends who have all banded together to conquer their towns greatest challenge which is the Golden Mile, twelve pubs, one night of epic adventure. Sounds like fun already right? Well it gets even better when things in the fives home town don’t appear to be adding up and it is revealed that their home town has been replaced by robots, well not robots, robot means slaves and they’re not slaves, no not at all. This being part of The World’s End frankly brilliant wit and humor that you receive throughout the film but not only is funny it has a great deal of heart and action (obviously) incorporated into it as well. So without further ado, let’s dig right into it.

Our five friends are all well-known actors and are exactly the perfect people to fill the older, stuffy versions of their younger selves that are shown in the film. We have Oliver or O man (Martin Freeman) who is the fuddy duddy kill joy of the group who has now become a real estate agent since the old days. Then we have Steven (Paddy Considine) who use to be our lead characters “rival” during their younger days as they play guitar and chased down girls across the school yard, one in particular being Oliver’s sister, Sam (Rosamund Pike.) And then there’s Peter (Eddie Marsan) who was the nerdy member of the five that was always bullied and teased throughout school and ultimately protect by his friends and finding his own place in it. Finally, we have Andrew (Nick Frost) who was best mates with Simon Pegg’s character but had a falling out near the end of high school when they all went their separate ways. And that’s everyone…..OH wait how could I forget about The King which is Simon Pegg’s character, Gary King, who will often refer to himself as The King and act as though he is God among men. This might have been the case when he was younger but now things have changed, very drastically but Gary hasn’t and is that one guy who never left high school but takes it to a whole other level. He is the one who manages to get the group back together for this last blowout and to finish what they couldn’t all those years ago.

From here our story of a night to remember begins but this feeling is only shown by Gary who is, as I said, stuck in the past where he was The King, girls loved him, he could drink and smoke his days away with his mates and nothing could ever stop him. But life it seems has stopped him and the first scene that we see Gary in, he is in a drug rehabilitation center, describing the old days as if they were yesterday. This is where we get a sense of soul and heart to the film and even though Gary’s selfish reasons brought the band back together much more comes from it. This and other touching moments from the groups past somehow go along rather seamlessly with the out of this world sci-fi elements of the film. The premise behind the other worldly beings that have taken over our friends home town is rather inventive and ties into the concerns and whoas of our group as well as every human being. They also are a part of the movies brilliantly planned out and choreographed fight scenes, where every hit leads to ricochet of events in the scene and brings the whole environment into the action.  Then they all proceed to have a pint and share more of their history together….sounds ridiculous when I say it but it works, trust me.

Not much else to say about The World’s End except that it is bloody brilliant, I’ve been a big fan of Edgar Wright’s films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost join forces for epic conquest against zombies or a town of homicidal murderers. The World’s End was one of the few movies that I did not feel robbed me of twelve dollars and gave me a never ending amount of laughs along with everybody else in the theatre. The film pulls no punches with its quick wit and intelligent humor (and not so intelligent), it’s not afraid to jab itself or its characters and struts its stuff with a joyous swagger. And it’s not just Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who are the stars of the show, no all the actors and actresses are on top of their game and makes me hope to God that the five actually do meet up for a pint every now and again.

Good:

-A great cast of characters who bring a spot on performance

-A movie with action, laughs and a soul to it as well

-Brilliantly choreographed fight scenes

-Excellently written and a good edition alongside Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead

Bad:

-Hmm I uhh, yeah I’ve got nothing, I loved it all

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10