The World's End

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have gone closer to their roots with their venture, The World's End, than either of their previous entries into the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy.

The World's End keeps the references to pop culture coming thick and fast while while delivering a slew of laughs wrapped in a narrative inspired by old genre movies.

It's no surprised I loved The World's End, as it has so many similarities to the late 90s sitcom Spaced, which first introduced the world to the combination of Wright, Frost and Pegg.

Gary King (Pegg) was arguably the most popular kid in school when he was a teenager. He had a group of troublemakers to hang with, his choice of girls, and a small town to rule - and that WAS fantastic... only problem is, now he thinks his life peaked when he was 18.

Fast forward to present day. Now he's is in his 40s and Gary looks and acts like he's still stuck in 1990.

The film opens with Gary attending some sort of addicts meeting. Being the mature, balanced individual that he is, Gary takes a slightly stupid question from a fellow addict far too seriously, and decides to head back to his home town of Newton Haven with his old posse to complete a "legendary" pub run they failed.

Nights like that usually end up like that map:
Tattered, covered in booze and kind of unintelligible.

The posse consists of four reasonable adults, Peter (Eddie Marsan), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine), and Andy (Nick Frost). And Gary.

While things aren't the same as "the good old days," the quintet look like they're having a good time and reminiscing about some of their better memories, but things are a little bit weird with the rest of the town.

Turns out there's been an invasion of some description and Newton Haven is full of androids.

Also, Simon Pegg wears this coat.

The World's End really is the funniest of the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, but it's the weakest in its narrative.

Pegg's Gary King is fantastic - seemingly channeling Richard E Grant from Withnail and I. He's immature, obnoxious, and most people will either know, or have known, somebody like him in their lifetime. It's a testament to Pegg's acting that while Gary comes off as annoying, he's still likable. His crippling addiction to partying is a coping mechanism and something to be pitied, rather than reviled.

It's an attitude his friends take, which is understandable and relieving.

Because getting blind drunk usually the best way to help a friend.

Speaking of his friends, they're all quite endearing and have their own quirks. Peter is a consummate wuss, Oliver is a stick in the mud, and Andy is Nick Frost (albeit sensible Nick Frost, for the first 40 minutes). The only character who didn't really seem to stick out was Steven, but he really served as a foil and a contrast to Pegg's Gary.

It was refreshing to see Frost and Pegg reverse roles, showing the two really bounce off each other even when not in their "traditional" routine.

Frost using bar-stools as boxing gloves: not traditional.

Rosamund Pike is also great as Sam, the slightly exasperated and put-upon younger sister of one of the five boymen. I've always thought she was a talented actress and it's nice to see her finally coming back into the public eye after the Bond flick, Die Another Day.

There's a lot of drunk humour. I mean a LOT. And I, for the most part, found it hilarious.

The World's End is full of slapstick, swearing, and generally men being thick because they're quite drunk.

Rosamund Pike was in Doom as well, you guys,

The fight scenes hold their own, with the cinematography whipping around to give the brawls a frenetic, inebriated feeling. The design of the robots was interesting enough to keep the fight scenes interesting while still instilling a feeling of danger.

While Hot Fuzz had melodrama and Shaun of the Dead had actual drama (shut up, I thought it was pretty moving in some places), The World's End has drunk drama. Drunk drama is ALWAYS tedious and felt a little forced here. While there were some very interesting and intriguing moments, they were undermined or subverted a lot of the time.

There's a lot of drama when you have flashlights for eyes...and a throat.

Also? Twelve pints of beer at twelve different pubs doesn't even sound like that big of a challenge.

There are a lot of similarities between The World's End and Spaced. Both focus on adults who have an obsession with pop culture and an inability to grow up, both reference a substantial amount of pop culture (both overtly and subtly) - hell, both even share a similar musical score in parts.

The musical score comes crashing through the roof.

The World's End really did capture the feeling of an insane, messy night on the town. But like any insane, messy night on the town, it gets derailed by broken friendships, sinister overtures, and killer robots. Wait. No. Maybe I've been in Sydney too long.

If you're a fan of the trio, a fan of old genre movies, or of slapstick - check it out.

Insert "caught red handed" joke here.