***
20 years after they left ‘the
Golden Mile’ (consisting of 12 pubs) incomplete, five friends return to their
hometown of Newton Haven with the aim of making it to ‘The World’s End’. Leader
of the pack is Gary King (Simon Pegg) a veritable man-child dressed obsessed
with reliving the past and the night his life should have begun. Joining him
are childhood friends, Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine), Peter
(Eddie Marsan) and Andy (Nick Frost), Gary’s ex-best friend. As the night
progresses, however, old grievances surface, but this is the last of their
worries as it becomes evident their home has been overrun by robots. (N.B. Not
a spoiler – anyone who has seen the trailer knows this already.)
‘Shaun of the Dead’ had zombies, ‘Hot
Fuzz’ had a band of killers, and ‘The World’s End’ has alien robots but the
underlying plot thread is much bleaker than anything we’ve encountered in the
previous two films. The story is essentially about a man being unable to let go
of the past because he hasn’t found the world to be as happy a place as he had
hoped and expected. Whilst his friends have grown up, got married (then
divorced), had children, and settled into good jobs, Gary is still driving
around in his teenage car, listening to the mixtape Steven gave him whilst they
were at school. He is never without a drink in his hand which, although amusing
at first, becomes bittersweet as we realise drink and drugs have become his
life instead of just a teenage phase. Indeed, the final act is a rollercoaster
of emotions as we come to realise the extent of Gary’s self-harm, only then to
be bombarded by a comedy moment involving The Network (voiced by Bill Nighy).
Indeed, this is the main flaw of
the film – it doesn’t know where to play it tonally. On one hand we have the
tragic protagonist and his friends, and on the other an alien invasion. Whilst
watching, I couldn’t help but feel that the better film could be found with the
relationship between the five men; their grievances, their joys, and banter.
However, the film offers no solution to the woes of growing up, instead drawing
our attention away with robots that bleed blue blood/ink. I would’ve liked to
have seen a flashback to ‘the accident’ that ruined Gary and Andy’s friendship,
but depth is side-lined by big explosions and sexy women dancing around in
school uniform. I did laugh, though, and
the script is very sharp in some places, but there is nothing here that can
match up to the humour and wit of ‘Hot Fuzz’.
The cast do well, though. Pegg
plays Gary extremely well, and we can’t help but care for him as he is so
miserable deep down. Nick Frost, instead of the cuddly side-kick, plays an
extremely angry and bitter character, greeting Gary with outright coldness and
continuing to shout at him throughout the film. Marsan is excellent, as ever
(it is so nice to see him getting bigger film roles), and Freeman and Considine
complete the five-some perfectly. Rosamund Pike is rather wasted in an
under-written role as the love interest, but it is amusing to see the return of
some familiar faces from the previous films, Rafe Spall, Bill Nighy and David
Bradley among them. ‘The World’s End’, however, is not ‘Hot Fuzz’ and left a
rather bittersweet feeling in the stomach instead of the outright grin the
previous two films have.
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