Film review: The World’s End (7 out of 10)

The final part of the ‘Cornetto’ trilogy is upon us - and director Edgar Wright and the team have served up another helping of great British comedy.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Jul 2013, 11:10 BST

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

The World's End.The World's End.
The World's End.

True, it doesn’t reach the dizzy heights of Shaun of the Dead, but Wright must have realised that he struck gold first time and everything afterwards was possibly going to fall short.

The joy of The World’s End is seeing just how far Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have progressed as actors. Both look far more at ease in front of the camera and Frost is very comfortable in a role that requires much more of him than just a bumbling companion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

While The World’s End doesn’t knock Shaun of the Dead off top spot in the trilogy, it definitely moves above Hot Fuzz.

The story sees Gary King (Pegg) rallying together his former school mates to take part in a pub crawl round their old home town. They tried 20 years before but failed.

However, the town has changed, with the residents acting strangely, and as the five former schoolfriends move from pub to pub they realise there are some dark forces at work.

We have Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsen and Paddy Considine joining Pegg and Frost as the friends so there’s no stinting in the skill factor.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There’s also a veritable host of top acting talent in cameos (Pierce Brosnan, Mark Heap, Bill Nighy, Michael Smiley and a few seconds of Rafe Spall).

The problem with this film is that it does take a while to get going and most of the good jokes depend on the amount of alcohol taken by the characters.

The budget has obviously increased since the ‘Shaun...’ days and there are some good CGI moments.

But the strength of the movie was always going to be with the main characters and while Freeman, Considine and Marsen have their moments, it’s still down to Pegg and Frost to drive the film forward.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Overall, a slightly patchy but fun film to round off the ‘Cornetto’ trilogy (look out for the particularly poignant Cornetto moment in this movie).

Film details:

The World’s End (15) 109mins

Director: Edgar Wright

Screening courtesy of Cineworld Crawley

Steve Payne