“The World’s End” is the third and final installment in the “Cornetto Trilogy” produced and directed by Edgar Wright, written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost.
For those of you who do not know, the “Cornetto Trilogy,” also known as the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy,” includes the movies “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) is literally the top dog of his high school living the good life in the early 90s. The opening monologue depicts King and his friends attempting to complete the “legendary” Golden Mile, a circuit of 12 pubs, all in one night.
Their attempt at the Golden Mile is admirable, but one by one they drop out of the campaign due to a combination of girls, beer, and alcohol.
King laments at the end of the monologue that no point in his life will be better than the night he tried to complete the Mile.
In the present day, King wants to try his hand at the Golden Mile again. Even after 20 years King hasn’t changed at all. He wears the same clothes and drives the same car, living in a perpetual state of the “best night of his life.”
The first 30 minutes of The World’s End plays like a belated coming of age movie. King has to accept that he is growing up and, to the disgust of his friends, he is the same drunkard they knew during high school.
King’s friends are about to abandon their second attempt at the Golden Mile, but then the aliens attack. I really shouldn’t have expected anything else from a Cornetto Movie, but I was honestly surprised.
The moment aliens are introduced into the plot, the movie falls into the same rhythm as the other movies in the trilogy. Tightly-shot fight scenes are paired with exposition about the right course of action. Do they run away or try and complete the Golden Mile?
King chooses the Mile and his friends reluctantly follow.
“The World’s End” draws a massive parallel between earth’s role in the galaxy and King’s own role in high school. The aliens try to control humanity, but King, with courage provided by 12 pints of beer, fights for humanity and his precious Golden Mile.
I highly recommend seeing the comedy-action movie, especially if you enjoyed “Hot Fuzz” or “Shaun on the Dead”. On a scale of Midnight Movie to full price, I give The World’s End “full price.”
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