The Worlds End Review

It’s really something to watch and talk about a trilogy. Mind you this isn’t like The Godfather trilogy or the Mad Max films. While all those have expanding narratives that make the characters a draw to watch. This one and the whole trilogy is unique where there’s no continuing thread or storyline. Just one director making three unique films that paid tribute to the films of the past in his own vision. Even rare is that the trio of films executed with their own blend of comedy and irony. The World’s End is the perfect cap off to a one of a kind trilogy. 

1. Pub Crawl

        As with the case with these films in the trilogy. There’s no connection between them as far as the story is concerned. If you’re one to take a peak at the trilogy, it’s safe to say that entries are their own different films. With this one, it feels like it takes some elements of Shaun of the Dead and does things differently. Replace the zombie aspect and input an alien invasion, as well as switching the character dynamics and you got something different. 

        You get a sense that in this one, it was probably a mutual choice between Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg to change Pegg’s character. The prior ones have him be the everyday man and the ideal police officer. It makes sense since those movies have him be the star and to be the audience representation of the everyday guy going through the wacky situations. This one, it somewhat feels personal, due to where we see Pegg’s character Gary in the film.

        We follow Gary as he’s a sad sack of a man. It’s established in the beginning of the film that he and his friends followed a pub crawl in their hometown. Most of them didn’t finish the 12-bar drinking odyssey, which prompts Gary to reunite with his friends to finish the trial. While I’ll talk about the gimmick for the film, I’ll elaborate on Gary’s character. As I stated a few sentences earlier, he’s a bit of a sad sack while his old friends have already grown up.

        He is dressed differently than his friends, as they each have professional jobs and just tolerate him to a certain extent. The main gist of his reignited journey is that he wants to recapture his youth and bringing his friends along. The feeling isn’t mutual right from the start where his friends have all grown up and went about their lives. What’s interesting is that in the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Gary and his friends when they were younger. 

        A nice touch is that the friends have a non-diegetic title of their names that have a style. Moments later when Gary reconnects with them and their names have a bland style that reflects their grown-up persona. The film has that element of reliving youth for Gary where he wants another try to his pub crawl. It all serves as a thing of closure for the character since it’s established later on that Gary had tried to kill himself since he hasn’t moved on like his friends. To me, it feels like a personal film juxtaposed with the alien invasion narrative. 

2. Invaders

        What better way to pay tribute to the films in the past by riffing on the alien invasion sub-genre. The first paid tribute to the revitalized zombie films and the second was Britain’s attempt to homage the past action police films of the US. The World’s End has Invasion of the Body Snatchers as the frame for the whole thing. Like the other film’s in the trilogy, the film flips itself when something weird happens. Such as when Gary fights a teenager in one of the pub’s restrooms. 

        The reveal that the youth is a robot was surprising. The violence basically has it setup where the invaders can have their heads and limbs removed forcefully. The best action moment is when the friends find Gary and engage in combat to stop the gang of Blanks. The Blanks are the name the friends dub the invaders. It’s all great with nearly all of them fighting and having the invaders squirt out blue blood, albeit not in buckets but in a classy way. Little did I know that it was initially setup as the gang goes back to their hometown. 

        I love how the threat gets progressively bigger when its revealed further that the whole town has been replaced. All of them have a hivemind approach where the gang tries to coast by them but get spotted. In a way, the aliens approach of taking over is what Gary wants. The aliens called The Network has created copies of it’s victims when they were younger. Gary tries to accomplish his quest all the while attempting to survive the alien invasion. Making it more engaging when his friends are slowly picked off. 

3. The Cornetto Trilogy

        So, after marathoning the trilogy for the past month is really something. In general, marathoning a film series is fun for me at least to see how a series or trilogy has come whenever I see the first entry. I can say that the redeeming value of this trilogy is that they’re all different. Most of the cast and crew are the same since Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg probably enjoy the camaraderie when it comes to making these films. I mentioned it when talking about Shaun, but the whole trilogy feels like something a group of friends make. Something akin to hanging out in a summer day. 

        They all have a connection when we focus on the characters being either slackers or too professional. Inevitably the main characters learn how to move on from being lackadaisical or too committed. Like their lives are the things that’s holding them back. All it takes is a zombie infestation, a secret society and aliens is what prompts the characters to realize who they are and change themselves for the better. All of it is personal, but it’s the execution of the ridiculous setup that makes the whole thing engaging. 

        One last thing that I’ll bring up before wrapping it up. I’m surprised that there were other trilogies from other directors that have no continuing stories. You have other works from directors John Carpenter and Damien Chazelle where there’s a “trilogy” per say. The only thing though is that they all have the same ideas and themes that make the films interconnected in a way. While I have yet to check out those films, this is probably unique where the releases have been met with unanimous praise. 

4. Overall

        The World’s End is one of the best sci-fi comedies and one of Edgar Wright’s essential viewing.