The World's End [Blu-ray]

Easily my favorite Simon Pegg and Nick Frost film - but I do love them all. Worth watching many times. Love this movie.

What a fantastic film, I loved it! As a Simon Pegg fan, I was expecting to see a quality film. This film lives up to his other great titles, this a home run for any Shawn of the Dead fans in particular! A great cast supports an interesting story in this action packed comedy, each adding a unique flavor to their characters. You will be surprised what familiar faces you come across along the way. Overall, I thought that the choice to keep the introduction of the film brief was the right call, as it sets up the story while allowing it to progress quickly. Unexpected turns will have you raising eyebrows, dropping jaws and slapping your knees with laughter! A must see film for any Simon Pegg fan, the World's End is a true hit! I expected it to be good, it turned out to be AMAZING! 5/5 stars! This is a rather flawless film with one of the most creative and appropriate endings that I have ever seen! Cheers, I'll raise a cup to this film, for it truly went the golden mile!

SEMI SPOILER ALERT WARNING- I am not going to get into any plot specifics but I am generalising about the plot all the way through to the ending without saying exactly what happens. ******************************************************************************* At first I was greatly disappointed with the denouement of this film. I went to bed after watching this film thinking the denouement was really stupid. Upon further reflection I thought it was a nightmare ending befitting a true horror story. But the TRUE horror story was not about anything otherworldly per se. It was about a true sociopath. This sociopath is interested in connections with humans only in so far as they serve his pursuit of his own hedonistic goals. This sociopath has no problems lieing to people who were his lifelong friends (all friendships he ruined with his actions), manipulating them or stealing their resources, including their identities. The friend who is painted as the wisest actually says this right out to the sociopath fairly early on in the film. The sociopath's belief in his own agenda is so ego driven that he thinks everything he does is right. He never thinks any of his actions are wrong even when they endanger others. He takes one action in the film that could be seen as truly altruistic, and he is quick to call it such. But it is not altruistic at all. It completely fits with his agenda and that is the only reason he takes it. This sociopath feels he is the "victim" of a world that is not as fun or hip or smart as he is and his victimhood entitles him to engage in behavior that puts others in harm's way. He is so married to the idea that his way is the best way that when he is offered true enlightement, not just for himself but for the entire human race, he refuses it. His friends refuse it too right along with him but only because they are drunk off their asses. When the world of humans is turned totally upside down into a place where the human population is less civilized, less comfortable and less enlightened than it ever has been in the modern era, this sociopath finally gets to play the hero in his own story. And only then but befriending non-humans and using them to terrorize other humans (which is the last shot of the film). A true nightmare horror story indeed.

Perhaps it's the fact that all the principle actors who keep reappearing in Edgar Wright's films but Simon Pegg himself (and Bill Nighy, of course) are within three years of my age that draws me so deeply into his work, but by the time news even started appearing about <i>The World's End</i> I had already built up more anticipation for the final installment of the "Blood And Ice Cream Trilogy" (my personal favorite of the several nicknames) than anything else in a life of movie-loving. And more importantly, I was not only not disappointed, I was absolutely blown away by its marvelous ingenuity and brilliant nuances. This is definitely Wright's masterpiece. I'll go so far as to compare it to that <i>other</i> Great Film that happens to be a screwball comedy about the end of the world, <i>Dr. Strangelove</i>. If this movie is a sign of its director's real potential, we have some wonderful stuff to look forward to, and even if it remains the crowning achievement of his career it still marks Wright as one of the elite in his field. This is a work on an entirely different level from its predecessors, <i>Shaun of the Dead</i> and <i>Hot Fuzz</i>, and as much as I love those two movies, it seems almost a shame for <i>The World's End</i> to be lumped in with them. It's a far deeper story with far deeper, more complex characters and an interlocking complex of themes about things that actually <i>matter</i>. It's about the conflict between civilization and freedom, youth and maturity, realism and wishful thinking, friendship and codependency, and any number of other dichotomies, and manages to explore all these relationships in meaningful ways without actually answering <i>any</i> of them, much less getting preachy or pushing an agenda. This is a movie that truly understands and exemplifies the only statement possible in any language that will ever be <i>always</i> true: <i>"Nothing Is <b>ever</b> that simple."</i> There are no universal answers to questions that matter, and the fact that the characters portrayed by Pegg and Nick Frost both find such true and deep happiness in the end despite their radically different choices, desires, and basic natures underlines that fact. All the way back in 2008 I posed the question in an online forum, "Which are you more looking forward to: the next Marvel Avengers movie, or the next Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright movie?" It's both wonderfully satisfying and professionally impressive to me that next year I'll get to see both options merge when Edgar Wright's <i>Ant-Man</i> adds the next Avenger to the team. I never would have foreseen that his career would reach the point where I could have both options at the same time, or for that matter that a such a gigantic media empire's blockbuster action franchise would make room for such a "cultish" director. I wish I were that wrong more often. My only regret about <i>The World's End</i> (besides its inexplicably limited release, forcing me to find a carpool to travel almost 100 miles to see it) is the timing of the DVD release, when I just happen to be extremely short on funds. But this will be one of the "one in a thousand" movies that I simply can't even consider delaying adding to my collection. I can live without food for long enough to manage, and feed my mind and sense of humor instead.

perfect condition

The World's End is definitely my favorite of the trilogy! I'm usually not a fan of this genre but Pegg and Wright did it...well right! It is worth the ride and what a ride it is! When it takes off it is unexpected, outrageous and explosive. But even before when establishing the characters dynamic and where their lives are at the moment is interesting and thought provoking. All of the characters are fairly realistic and perfectly written, I believe everyone can relate to someone in the "five musketeers" or has known someone in the bunch. I love the "tarot-esque" design of the pubs for the golden mile. And with numerous viewings you will catch little nuances or instances of foreshadowing that you may have missed. Blu-ray disc is exceptional! Resolution and sound is fantastic and the special features are a hoot!

THE WORLD'S END is the final entry in Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy, and it has the same elements which made the previous two enjoyable: sharp dialogue and chemistry among the leads, a sense of fun, a good soundtrack and Edgar Wright's flashy directing style. However, the results this time are a bit more of a mixed bag. The story this time is about Gary King (Simon Pegg), who gathers his childhood friends together to finish an epic pub crawl that they failed to complete over 20 years before. Starting off with the positives, the chemistry between the actors is as strong as ever and the trademark British humor is in full force. Simon Pegg clearly had a fun time making this film, and it shows in his performance. There were also some nice twists and turns in the story, although where the story ends up going takes everything off the rails. While the previous two films worked primarily as parody/homage, this one takes it a step further and actually tries to shoehorn a message about letting go of your past and growing up. The others were meta in the way they dealt with their respective genre cliches, but this one felt meta in the sense that the group of people making it were making some sort of statement about their professional lives, at least as far as their collaborations go. Basically, it was their way of letting go of the past and moving forward. This is an admirable sentiment, but it also didn't make for the funniest film at times. There was also some issues with character development. Each character had a few different qualities which distinguished themselves from the others (and were different from previous characters they played), but most of the development came from exposition which I felt was rather weak. Finally, the biggest single problem with the film (as with the last one, only worse) was the ending. Here also, it felt like they could have ended the film at a couple of places, but for some reason it just kept going, as if they didn't really know how they wanted to end it. So as not to spoil any surprises, I will stop there. Suffice it to say that a good 10 minutes could have been trimmed to make a more streamlined film. Still, as a collaboration between a solid comic team and an excellent director, I enjoyed it. It doesn't quite stand up to the previous two, but those set an impossibly high bar anyway. Overall, if you enjoyed the first two you should definitely check this out. You might not be as impressed, but it's still like having some laughs with old friends.

Good movie. Highly recommend