Movie Review: The World's End

Last Drinks

Comedy. MA15+

What’s It All About? An epic pub crawl turns into an epic fight for survival for six old school chums facing off an apocalyptic robot invasion.

The Verdict: An entertaining, if very familiar romp towards the end of the world.

3.5/5.0

Who’d have thought the funny could be found in the apocalypse? 

Last year’s underrated Seeking a Friend for the End of the World starring Steve Carrell and Keira Knightly found plenty of humour in impending doom as does this entertaining romp. It’s the last in the so-called ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ from director/writer Edgar Wright and Brit comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who brought us Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007).

"There’s plenty of laughs to be had but also an acute sense of déjà vu"

The World's End  shouldn't be confused with This Is The End which it follows hot on the heels of, if only because it’s a superior film than it's predecessor. Where the latter - about a group of Tinseltown actors holed up in James Franco’s house as the world crumbles outside - wallowed in gross-out humour, product placement and ironic Hollywood self absorption that quickly wore thin, the former has a greater wit.

Sign of the times

We’re introduced to middle-aged reprobate Gary King (Pegg) in rehab as he recalls the best night of his life – a messy but ultimately incomplete epic pub crawl (that’s twelve pints in twelve pubs) in his home town of Newton Haven with four school chums over twenty years ago. He skips out of rehab and reunites the group to attempt the beer quest again which will culminate at The World’s End pub.

His estranged pals - Andy (Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine, The Bourne Ultimatum), Peter (Eddie Marsan, The Disappearance of Alice Creed) and Oliver (Martin Freeman, The Hobbit) with Oliver’s younger sister Sam (Rosamund Pike, An Education) tagging along – are all very grown up, or so they think. At any rate, they’re worlds apart from Gary who is in arrested development, a ‘maby’ or man-baby to borrow a pearl from the script, who still dresses like a punk rocker complete with bad black hair dye and Doc Martins and whose only aspiration is to get epically pissed.

Newsflash: Village People policeman swallows mirror ball

But it’s not just that ocean of difference or the disturbing trend that their old haunts have been ‘Starbucked’ that’ll rupture the night. The group unwittingly discover they’re slap bang in the middle of a robot invasion. The townsfolk may look human, in an all-too-perfect kind of way but most have been substituted by robots with flashy blue eyes, blue ink for blood and a terminator-esque fighting acuity, hell bent on recruiting the world’s population.

Have we met?

The seed of the story, co-written by Pegg, lies in Wright’s own failed teenage pub crawl, presumably minus the kick-fighting robots. Where Shaun of The Dead was their tribute to zombie movies and Hot Fuzz to action/buddy flicks, this supposedly final entry tips it’s hat to sci-fi.

There’s plenty of laughs to be had, some witty dialogue and adroit comic performances particularly from Pegg. Yet there’s also an acute sense of déjà vu in content and style, this being the third time we’ve seen the ‘unwitting duo/group bumbling their way through other worldly chaos’ gag.

But The World’s End couldn’t be accused of false advertising. For those familiar with the series and fans alike it'll be like slipping into some comfy, well worn slippers. It’s a fitting lark to conclude the series.