The World’s End [2013] is the third and, perhaps final film in writer/director Edgar Wright’s ‘Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy’ (The other two being Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead). It follows a group of reunited friends meeting and returning home after nearly two decades as they complete the fabled ‘golden mile’ pub crawl. Upon arrival, however, they find that they aren’t the only things that are alien to the town.
Hello hungry, I’m dad. The World’s End’s style of humor is far removed from the conversational and visual humor of the other two films. A lot of the jokes can be classed as dad jokes. Witty, but not in the way you’d hope. It may elicit a laugh, but it isn’t as intelligent and natural as other Edgar Wright works. That said, the film deals with the fact that the main characters have grown into middle-aged men, some with children. Perhaps the dad jokes are indicative of their new place in life. Who knows? Either way, the dad jokes don’t really mesh well into dialogue. There are a few conversational jokes which land really well and made me hope the film focused on that style of comedy more.
Only 90’s kids will remember. I’m a huge fan of the film’s mostly 90’s British pop and rock soundtrack. The soundtrack, however, is not just a soundtrack in The World’s End. Like in Guardians Of The Galaxy, the soundtrack is a plot device; here showing how Gary King (Simon Pegg) is trapped in his over-romanticized past. In true Edgar Wright fashion, the film’s cuts and actions are in time with the music, increasing their impact and creating a wonderful rhythm of movement.
Prepare to get annihilated. The fight scenes in The World’s End are amazingly dense with action while still being clear and understandable. This is a great feat for any action sequence. Here the focus shifts from conflict to conflict smoothly in long shots. In fact, it plays out a lot like the fights in The Kingsman, but less over the top. The fight scenes are hilarious too. Many action-comedy films segregate their action and comedy into separate parts. Here the comedy is in the action. Some of the best laughs come from the amazingly well-choreographed fights.
Like butter. The World’s End is one of the best-edited films I’ve watched. Each scene is bookended with smooth transitions or inserts of props. As a result, the film flows. Each scene melds into the next. This can be attributed to the writing as well. Words and phrases will link two consecutive scenes together in a way which blurs the line between where the last scene finished and the new scene started. It’s one of those jobs done so well you barely notice it. The film doesn’t feel disjointed or scattershot, it feels like an extremely coherent whole.
It may not be Edgar Wright’s finest, but you can’t deny it’s amazing.
