the worlds end

The World’s End, the third and perhaps final collaboration between director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is a natural evolution of sorts. Their first theatrical foray, Shaun of the Dead, focused on a pair of emotionally stillborn pals defending themselves against an army of zombies. Hot Fuzz saw them paired up as essentially children masquerading as adults in a world of gratuitous action-film inspired violence. The World’s End brings things full circle, introducing a now mature and responsible group childhood chums who’ve conceded to a man that to function in the real world, you’ve got to grow up sometime. Well, everyone except Gary.

While the whole gang’s back this time around, including welcome newcomers like Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock) and Paddy Considine, there’s no mistaking this is Simon Pegg’s movie. As Gary, he represents the entire film’s contradictory philosophy in a nutshell: a true friend never outgrows his true friends. One has to be careful looking for deeper meanings in The World’s End, after all this is a movie about getting drunk and beating the piss out of alien robots. But there’s a concerted effort by Pegg and Wright to imbue the film with some emotional depth that goes well beyond anything they’ve brought to the screen before.

Reuniting his friends under false pretenses, Gary (Pegg) dreams of completing the “Golden Mile,” an epic pub-crawl that was interrupted 20 years ago and lingers in his mind as the one truly happy moment in an utterly underwhelming life. Gary’s friends have all moved on, particularly Andy (Frost) who still resents the fact that Gary left him by the side of the road after a nasty car accident. But as the night goes on, it becomes clear that their hometown of Newton Haven has been overrun by an alien intelligence, replacing the population with robot lookalikes who have their eyes on conquering all of planet Earth.

This mix of mundane British life with the otherworldly or fantastic is part and parcel of the trio’s previous work. The fit is a bit more awkward here. The first half of The World’s End is almost a straight drama. When the sci-fi elements first intrude, it’s a shocking bathroom brawl that seems to come out of nowhere (with cartoonish fight choreography on par with Wright’s more recent Scott Pilgrim Vs The World). Gary and the gang suddenly become invincible robot slaying machines with beat-down skills that would make any Blade Runner jealous. The tonal shift can be jarring to say the least.

But Wright and company create a new rhythm that carries through to an overblown conclusion and an, unfortunately, odd coda. What you can always depend on is the film’s whip-smart script, punctuated with some truly classic zingers by Pegg. Even though he’s a tragic figure (“How can you tell you’re drunk if you’re never sober,” asks one of his buddies), he’s a likable one who jumps at the chance for redemption. Wright packs the film with references to classic and modern sci-fi influences, employing his typically ADD editing style to amp up the action to unbelievable levels of cinematic intensity. But it’s the quieter moments of The World’s End that wind up having the most impact, a somehow appropriate conclusion to a filmmaking trilogy that both defied and embraced conventions with each chapter.

While the film didn’t exactly set theaters on fire here in the States, Universal is smart enough to know that the filmmakers have a big following. As such, the blu-ray/ DVD / digital copy combo is suitably crammed with extras, beginning with three commentaries featuring a mix and match of Pegg, Frost and Wright in various combinations, trivia track, storyboard, outtakes, almost a dozen featurettes and one larger (45 min) Making Of. Many special editions promise the world, the one really delivers