Official Synopsis
Twenty years after their first epic pub crawl attempt, the “five musketeers” reunite in their home town to complete the ultimate challenge – one night, five friends, twelve bars – a boozy quest on which only the strongest will survive. But after a bizarre series of encounters with the out-of-this-world locals, they soon realize that reaching their final pub, The World’s End, may be the least of their troubles. They’re having the time of their lives, ready to take on the world… but tonight they may have to save it.
I trust Edgar Wright and crew to bring nothing but their ‘A’ game when it comes to oddity and humor. We saw some of their best work with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, so it was only fitting to assume that they would bring a triumphant conclusion to the Cornetto trilogy with something as equally as insane, intense and humorous in The World’s End. Could it match the previous two stories? In my opinion, no, but it isn’t a complete failure; just a partial one.
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The World’s End has a fantastic setup that lends well to the humor that Wright, Pegg and Frost are able to deliver. The idea that friends are getting the band back together for one last go around at a pub crawl they never finished when they were younger in a small town in England has limitless possibilities for laughs. The issue with the movie is that it’s a story that could be told in 45 minutes. By the second or third pub, secondary story excluded, you’re already tired of Gary’s quips and his buddies’ distain for the idea of reliving something they are far too old to be doing. The film at this point could have just skipped the entire sci-fi element to it and turned into a drama. That might have extended the movie a bit more, given it some substance and ended the trilogy on a serious note.
Yeah, that probably wouldn’t have been fun.
Thankfully, the movie abruptly shifts our attention spans from the dark depths of approaching depression with Gary and reminds us that this movie still has a few surprises — especially when the ‘bots’ show up. The bots extend the life of the film and mixes with the main plot point perfectly. It spits out action sequence after action sequence, each one begging to tell you what the hell is going on in this small nowhere town. You’ll find the boys still keeping on track with their goal of reaching The World’s End, and along the way fighting badass ‘bots’. All of this is a very abrupt shift that doesn’t give you much rhyme and reason for happening, but nonetheless a welcomed addition to the movie that was sadly going in the wrong direction of simply knowing too much about our characters.
Of course, knowing too much about the characters only magnifies their attitude shifts during the film, which lends well to the humor written for each person. So, in short, the film really doesn’t start going places until about 30 minutes into it and by the end of the movie, though completely riddled with questions that never get answered, you’ll walk away feeling like the trilogy has properly concluded. You’ll love where each character ended up (well, maybe not some of them — you’ll see, I don’t want to ruin it) and how much they loved getting there.
I left out quite a bit of details in the film because I don’t really want to ruin the experience for you. So please excuse my vagueness on the story. It’s no fun for reviewers to give you the whole story without you discovering it yourself. Reviewers who do that are simply enjoying their own words. These words aren’t for me, they’re for you. Anyway, let’s wrap this up.
Is it a non-stop thrill ride? No. Is it dumb humor that deserves a fair amount of applause for ending a great trilogy on a high note? Yes. Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ended this ride like they started it; intense and humorous. The World’s End may not be the best in the trilogy, but it treats the trilogy with proper respect.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, it’s absolutely gorgeous. While Universal may not be as impressive as Warner Home Video when it comes to Blu-ray HD transfer, they sure come in a close second. This film focuses a lot detail on blues, yellows, blacks and whites. The movie, for the most part, really brings these three elements out of the HD transfer quite nicely. There are moments where you’ll see some graininess in the picture, especially during some of the darker scenes (when the boys are trapped in a dark house hiding from the ‘bots’, it gets a bit grainy), but the majority of the transfer is actually pretty nice. Universal rarely disappoints in the Blu-ray category (or HD-DVD, if you’re still rocking that), so expect some good stuff.
The audio is brought to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and has a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Finally, the features to expect are as follows:
· Cast Commentary with stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Paddy Considine
· Technical Commentary with director Edgar Wright and director of photography Bill Pope
· Filling in the Blanks: The Stunts and FX of The World’s End
· Hair and Make-Up Tests
· Rehearsal Footage
· Stunt Tapes
· VFX Breakdown
· There’s Only One Gary King
· The Man Who Would Be (Gary) King
· Signs & Omens
· Edgar & Simon’s Flip Chart
· Deleted Scene, Outtakes, Alternate Edits and more!
· Completing the Golden Mile – The Making of The World’s End
Again, they ended this on a high note and it shows. Wonderful features that will make you want to own the other films. Good stuff, folks.