The World's End

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
 The World's End
Released 8/23/13, now in theaters

Those whacko Brits, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up for the third time with director, Edgar Wright in the sci-fi comedy, The World's End.  After the success of both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the pressure is on these three to end this pseudo trilogy with a bang.  Is there enough energy left in this comedic tank to do so?  That is the question.

Almost from the beginning, it's obvious The World's End does not have the kind of inspired lunacy of the other movies.  Try as they might, the cast just seems to be searching for jokes that work.  Some of them do.  Seriously, it would be hard for the team of Pegg and Frost to be totally unfunny.  But many times I simply felt mild amusement and not the sidesplitting laughs I'm used to when watching this duo onscreen.

The story begins with Gary King (Pegg) recalling his younger teenage days spent with his four good friends,  Peter (Eddie Marsan), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine), and Andy (Frost).  Gary, an addict, quickly realizes as he is speaking to his support group that one of his greatest regrets is not completing the legendary Golden Mile with his mates years ago.  The Mile is a pub crawl encompassing 12 bars in their hometown of Newton Haven.  Through  manipulation and lies, Gary is able to convince his now estranged buddies to take up the challenge again determined to drink his last pint at the final bar on the tour, The World's End.

Gary and crew begin their journey but they are not met with the hero's welcome Gary thinks they should have upon the group's return to Newton Haven after more than a decade's absence.  In fact the people in town are a little strange.  They get off to a good start in the first three bars and are joined briefly by Oliver's sister, Sam (Rosamund Pike), who had a fling with Gary when they were teens, much to the chagrin of Steven who has always secretly loved her.  Things go awry at the fourth pub when Gary gets into a brawl with a teenager who is much stronger than he should be.  The brawl escalates to include the remainder of the group where they all discover there might be something not so human about the residents of Newton Hall any longer.  But, despite a possible apocalypse, Gary is still Hellbent on reaching The World's End by the end of the night!

So, my thoughts are why would seemingly successful, professional people follow the lead of someone who is stuck in a timewarp from over a decade prior and gives no indication of leaving it?  Gary is a hedonistic party animal who was an untrustworthy liar when they were all teens.  He proves he's an untrustworthy liar when he re-enters their lives.  It doesn't really matter how good natured he is.  He's trouble.  This reminds me of The Hangover series in the sense that the other characters always allowed Zach Galifianakis' man-child to hang around.  Again, the guy is nothing but trouble.  Ah, but I guess we couldn't progress the story without people being stupid right?  It just doesn't make much sense to me.  But maybe it's not supposed to make sense and it simply is what it is.

When Gary and Andy finally arrive at The World's End, the movie takes an unexpected turn for the melodramatic as the audience is given a brief look into the demons that are haunting Gary.  It's not a bad scene between the two.  It just felt a little weird and awkward that this type of somberness invaded a movie this silly.  A movie that again I felt was sometimes trying and failing to find its comedic footing in the first place.

The World's End isn't a bad component of this aforementioned trio of films.  But, it is clearly inferior to both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  It's funny, but not raucously so.  It's worth a viewing, but I would have been more satisfied not paying theater prices to see it.  This one is more of a renter than an owner if you know what I mean.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***1/4 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.