To briefly recap: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, after making an name for themselves in TV, scored a bit of a hit with the 2004 zombie romantic comedy Shaun of the Dead Yndash; still pretty much the gold standard when it comes to funny zombie films Yndash; and also did rather well with the 2007 comedy action pastiche Hot Fuzz (a film I personally find somewhat less accomplished, but still bags of fun). Then Pegg and Frost went off to make Paul with someone else, a film which did quite well though it wasn't particularly great, and Wright went off and made Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, a film which didn't do very well even though it was quite good.

Now here they are again with The World’s End, which is being advertised as the final installment of their Cornetto Trilogy Yndash; helps with the marketing, I suppose, because in terms of story the three films are completely separate, not even taking place in the same genre.

This time round Pegg plays Gary King, a highly dubious and unreliable character, who at the start of the film is intent on reuniting the gang of his teenage years. Frost plays his best friend Andy, while comprising the rest of the crew are Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, and Martin Freeman. Many years ago this bunch set out to complete an epic pub crawl in their home town, but failed: now Gary is insisting they give it another try.

However, the freewheeling teenagers of decades before have grown up to be lawyers, estate agents, and so on, and even getting everyone back together is a challenge. Slowly the realisation dawns that Gary himself hasn't appreciably grown up at all, and the question of exactly what his motivation for this reunion is becomes increasingly pressing.

Several pubs into the crawl, of course, things take a rather different and unexpected turn, as does the tone of the film. This does rather come out of nowhere, if you haven't seen the trailer anyway, but suffice to say that, as usual, what started as a comedy turns into a different sort of genre movie entirely...

I seem to recall being instinctively well-disposed towards Shaun of the Dead when it came out, mainly because I'd met Simon Pegg the year before and he turned out to be one of the good guys. (Pegg's rise to something approaching bona fide movie-stardom since then has been gratifying.) I find myself equally inclined to say nice things about The World's End, but again I am unsure whether this is simply due to the quality of the film, or the fact it seems precision-aimed at me as its target audience.

Because this is essentially a film about looking down the barrel of forty, realising your youth is all but over, and coming to terms with the fact that the past is past. All the characters have done this except Gary, and the emotional arc of the film is about how this affects their relationships. There is inevitably a good deal of nostalgia for the late 80s and early 90s, which is reflected in one of the most evocative and memorable soundtracks I can recall: Blur, the Stone Roses, the Soup Dragons, Suede, they are all here.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this story winds up hitting a few emotional notes you wouldn't necessarily expect to find in a mainstream comedy film, but I found this just made the film more engaging. Certainly, I went to see The World's End looking forward to the genre element of the story, but found myself enjoying the character-based comedy-drama much more. In addition to sharp and witty dialogue, there is also some well-executed slapstick and a brilliant gag about the plague of homogenous gastro-ification sweeping British pubs.

This is not to say that the other stuff is by any means bad, of course: it's smartly written and immaculately assembled, with some superbly inventive action choreography along the way (even if the unarmed combat skills displayed by virtually every character seem a little implausible). But by the climax, one almost gets a sense of the film itself having had a couple of pints too many Yndash; things become just a touch out of control and silly, though not enough to spoil proceedings. (It’s definitely a stretch to claim the film is on some level an homage to Wyndham or Youd, as some publicity materials are claiming.) The conclusion, though fairly logical, seemed to me to be distinctly odd and tonally rather at odds with the way the rest of the film had been going.

Nevertheless, this is still a quality piece of work, as you would expect from the assembled talent involved in making it. Given the A-Team of actors involved, the only real surprise is Nick Frost's continued ability to steal scenes apparently without effort. Doing that when you're sharing the frame with Simon Pegg, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Martin Freeman (often all at the same time) is a really remarkable talent. Frost might also want to consider branching out into action movies: he shows considerable potential in this department. Rosamund Pike and Pierce Brosnan also pop up in key roles: there's something weird about the fact that not much more than a decade ago it was perfectly okay for the two of them to get it on in a movie, but now he's being cast as her former schoolteacher. Typically strange cinema attitudes to ageing, I suppose.

The World's End is very much of a piece with the two other Wright/Pegg/Frost films in the way it combines comedy-drama with genre pastiche, but it isn't afraid to try some new things Yndash; the roles played by the two leads are effectively reversed, while there's less of a focus on their relationship and more of an ensemble feel to the film. For the most part, this works, and if this really does turn out to be the last time these three work together, they are concluding their relationship on a high. The World's End is consistently very funny, frequently moving, and often rather exciting. A great piece of intelligent entertainment, and one of the best films of the summer so far.

Awix

29.07.13 Front Page

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