After succeeding in generating laughs with ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’, the same team re-unite for ‘The World’s End’. Using a simple premise for the raucous comedy, their latest effort attempts to be as cleverly ridiculous. Unfortunately the ensemble cast seem lost with the gags not flowing quite as easily as the lager its characters eagerly consume.
Wanting to re-connect with his old mates, Gary (Simon Pegg) plans to complete the ‘Golden Mile’, a long-ago pub crawl they never completed. Roping together friends including Oliver (Martin Freeman) and Andrew (Nick Frost), they plan to have a marathon boozing session concluding at ‘The World’s End’ pub. Their escapades become rudely interrupted by an alien invasion. Determined to continue drinking fine alcohol despite extra-terrestrial interlopers, their wild night becomes even more sensational.
After a promising start ‘The World’s End’ becomes a disappointment. It begins well with Pegg’s character perpetually living in the past. His efforts in re-visiting previous glories are painful with his friends’ exasperation at his antics easily understood. Realising this isn’t enough to sustain a whole film, the writers then graph the alien invasion sub-plot. This is where ‘The World’s End’ comes unstuck as it adds few laughs. Watching aliens being bashed repeatedly becomes tiresome very quickly as the characterisation vanishes.
Fault could be given to director Edgar Wright whose slack pacing drags proceedings down. His handling of the screenplay is lacklustre despite the performer’s energy conveying a true sense of camaraderie. They do their best with the script’s mix of drama and humour which never works. The dramatic aspects are far too serious and the humour is smothered by the personal naval-gazing. It becomes a chore to reach the conclusion even if the CGI is reasonably well handled.
‘The World’s End’ ultimately amounts to very little. Whilst occasionally amusing it’s nowhere near the standard set by the production team’s previous work with the end not arriving soon enough.
Movie Review Rating 4 / 10
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
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