Movie review: The World's End

The film-making trio of writer-director Edgar Wright, writer-star Simon Pegg and co-star Nick Frost have so far given us a zombie spoof (Shaun of the Dead) and an action cop comedy (Hot Fuzz), so it's no surprise they're completing what is being called the Cornetto Trilogy with a satirical sci-fi apocalyptic epic.

The name of the trilogy refers to a simple recurring joke in the films involving a Cornetto icecream; so while there are many differences between the films there are plenty of similarities such as this for fans to enjoy.

The chemistry is again fabulous, the dry sense of humour and sharp one-liners between Frost and Pegg are as good as ever, and shared by new cast members Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan, Martin Freeman and his onscreen sister, Rosamund Pike.

The whole film takes place over one night as five estranged high school friends reluctantly reunite in their home town of Newton Haven to complete a historic pub crawl they failed to finish 20 years earlier.

They're brought together by Gary King, played by Pegg, the one member of the group who hasn't moved on from his partying teenage years.

While the humour and tone feels familiar, there are a few changes to the formula. For a change, Frost plays the straight man, while Pegg gets the manipulative and less likeable role.

It's also deeper, by a smidgen, than the previous films, in particular concerning Gary's inability to cope with a life that's resulted in little more than addiction, and how we tend to lose touch with friends from earlier in our our lives.

But as much as this is a buddy film it's more importantly, as the title suggests, an end-of-the-world sci-fi movie. It takes a few pubs and pints for the action to begin, as their pub crawl is interrupted by townsfolk whose bodies have been invaded by an alien race.

The World's End is the slickest of the trilogy and probably the cleverest, although the chaotic action means the astute and often witty lines and one-liners sometimes get lost.

Frost and Pegg are well practised though, and successfully pull us into a quest that, while not laugh-out-loud, is a fitting finale to an accidental trilogy.

Stars: 3.5/5
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
Director: Edgar Wright
Running time: 108 mins
Rating: R13 (violence, offensive language, sexual references)
Verdict: A fitting finale to a trilogy of spoofs

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- TimeOut