The World’s End is the conclusion to Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s genre mashup trilogy. They know what they’re doing and deliver another expert film. The only complaint could be that they can’t surprise us again or take it to the next level a second time. It is a conclusion, and conclusions are inherently less dramatic. Once you resolve a dramatic conflict, there are no more dramatic possibilities, only resolutions as it were. It feels like a resolution to the trilogy of “Cornetto” movies. This is Edgar Wright’s The Dark Knight Rises.
At this point where the film is on Blu-ray, I suppose the hook of The World’s End is out. We know that it’s going to start as one thing and become another thing. Gary King (Simon Pegg) gets his old high school friends back together to recreate their legendary pub-crawl, ending up at The World’s End tavern. Only now everyone hates him. They’ve all gotten their lives together, in most cases an improvement sparked by getting away from Gary. But, they reluctantly go on Gary’s last pub-crawl because it’s easier than arguing with him. Then they end up fighting science-fiction menaces referred to as Blanks.
At this point there may be a formula to the way Wright, Pegg and Frost write, but it goes to show you that good writing works no matter how many times you do it. The elements of this group’s social dynamics are not just superficial ways to tell the main guys apart. They are organic characteristics that, when the threat arrives, actually build drama instead of simply forwarding the narrative.
Wright & Co. are effective at setting things up early, so pay attention to the arguments about selective memory, Pete (Eddie Marsan)’s driver’s license, Gary’s argumentative tenacity and more. This is legitimate character drama, though I might not go so far to say it would support a movie on its own. You’re waiting for a threat to occur, but the threat services these characters.
It is more of a return to Shaun of the Dead format as the gang includes people who want to grow up and slackers who refuse to, only it’s not for the sake of romance but rather larger human growth. Hot Fuzz dealt with the by the books mentor and idealistic partner in a refreshing way and it was a step forward from the type of relationships in Shaun, or at least a step to the side diagonally. World’s End ties them all together though. Perhaps at this stage they’re like The Expendables, replaying these archetypes for one last hurrah. Only they keep swapping so this time Pegg gets to play the outrageous one.
Pegg, Frost and Wright could easily go on forever picking genres and doing them their way, and I imagine one day they’ll have a monumental idea for another one, but in conceiving The World’s End as the end of a trilogy, they did find a way to bring all these thematic mashup ideas together, be it a subtle visual reference or an outright manifesto on the crutch of loving the past.
Here’s where I feel the conclusion vibe. Of course each film is a standalone comedy crossbreed, but after the next level that was Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World for Wright, The World’s End is a slight step back into familiar territory. A friendly one, as if to say, “Let’s not just leave that dangling.” And when the eventual fourth Cornetto movie happens, I’ll feel less final about this one. It happened to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and Alien 3. As much as The World’s End is a standalone movie, I know they’ve addressed these themes and cinematic conventions before, and I sense this is a sort of final word on them. Not better, not even necessarily different, but conclusive. Their thesis on how to blend movie genres is resolved, not that it had to be. There’s always room for more exploration, and it will continue to exist, just like Paul was an enjoyable one off.
When it comes to the fights against the Blanks, I had to confront one of my very own tenants. I’ve always maintained that “because it’s awesome” is the only reason anything requires to exist in a movie. I’ve stated that every movie is a matrix, so badass fighting moves are always allowed whether you’ve downloaded Kung Fu in a computer simulation or just happen to be played by Jet Li.
Yet I did think it was weird that these particular characters could break out into well-choreographed fight scenes. This is a less organic tonal shift than the previous movies. I mean, Hot Fuzz was always about cops, first subverting the conventions of cop movies, then embracing them. The fights totally worked in Scott Pilgrim because it was a metaphor, living one’s life and seeing a romantic conquest like a video game. I think the fights in The World’s End are only there to look cool, and they are outstanding fight scenes. I just think a caveat of my “because it’s awesome” and “every movie is a matrix” rules are that you have to establish what kind of matrix you’re playing in. The World’s End clearly established a very different movie with middle aged guys who have normal jobs and no fighting skills, and this team is usually better about their tonal shifts, unless I’m missing something.
But if you don’t have six hours to listen to three separate audio commentaries, a bonus feature on signs and omens gives you a rundown in a concise montage. There are a slew of slickly produced behind the scenes pieces that recap the themes of the film, the physical production and post-production work featuring interviews with all the stars and filmmakers.
Some go deeper into the creative process, like Pegg and Wright’s flip chart which you’ve already seen here on CraveOnline. They present some alternate edits, which frankly I had to watch back to back with the final scenes in the film to tell them apart, because they work equally well. A single deleted scene implies that there wasn’t much fluff to cut out of this carefully calculated film, but out-takes reveal that Pegg wasn’t always as smooth as the final cut presents him.
The film looks good on Blu-ray, pretty much your standard HD presentation at this point, a little hyper saturated as Wright likes to do. I might say you’re just as well with a digital download/streaming version at this point if you’re only concerned about the movie, but if you’re going to watch all the extras then the movie’s quality certainly justifies a Blu-ray purchase.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and Shelf Space Weekly. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
