The World’s End
Director: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)Starring: Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek Into Darkness), Nick Frost (Paul, Hot Fuzz).
Story
Five friends reunite after twenty years to finish a pub crawl they started but never finished. But things get weird. How weird? This weird…
 |
| ...yeah...this weird. |
Analysis
This film closes out the “Cornetto” trilogy that started with Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Each a British take on popular Hollywood themes, SotD falls within the realm of zombies, HF that of police/action flicks and WEaddressing the science fiction niche. (All commonly referred to as the “Cornetto” trilogy, for that particular brand of ice cream appears in each as a running gag.)
As with the first two films, The World’s End has a bit of an identity crisis. Marketed as a comedy, it also has its share of drama. And after one has started to get the feel that it’s a film about adults coming to grips with whom they’ve become as they've aged, elements develop to make things more interesting. To avoid spoilers, the elements involve beings not from this world and lots of blood. Blue blood. That gets splattered. A lot.
Alphas
As with the first two films, The World’s End has a bit of an identity crisis. Marketed as a comedy, it also has its share of drama. And after one has started to get the feel that it’s a film about adults coming to grips with whom they’ve become as they've aged, elements develop to make things more interesting. To avoid spoilers, the elements involve beings not from this world and lots of blood. Blue blood. That gets splattered. A lot.
Alphas
- If you’re a fan of subtle, dry, British humor, then laughs abound.
- Simon Pegg's acting skills very much shine. This film cemented my belief that he is truly a craftsman at what he does.I hope someday he lands a purely dramatic role in a film set in a dark, dystopian cyberworld or maybe something along the lines of a gangster in Boardwalk Empire.
- Simon Pegg's acting skills very much shine. This film cemented my belief that he is truly a craftsman at what he does.I hope someday he lands a purely dramatic role in a film set in a dark, dystopian cyberworld or maybe something along the lines of a gangster in Boardwalk Empire.
- For fans of science fiction, there’s a slow start, but then things pick up.
- Even though it’s marketed as a comedic sci-fi flick, there are some sincere attempts to look at what it actually means to grow up and become an adult. For some this may be an Alpha, yet simultaneously for others, a Delta.
- Editing/pacing are kept tight throughout the film.
Deltas
- If you go into the theater expecting a straight-up, knee-slapping, rip-roaring comedy, you’ll be disappointed. Although humor is ever present, the script is all over the place.
- If you haven’t seen Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, it would probably be best to do so before seeing The World's End for the sake of continuity and the running gags.
Conclusion
If you’re already a Simon Pegg fan, the film is worth seeing in the theater. However, for standard Action A Go Go purposes, just wait to rent it when it comes out on Bluray or On Demand. It’s a worthwhile effort, with quite a few laughs and some decent sci-fi action towards the end. But better to save it for that Friday or Saturday night when you don’t know what to rent. It’s a safe flick, for ultimately, there’s nothing really terrible about it. But at best, if you're ever needing a film to just defrag, you can watch The World's End and say, “It served its purpose,” without spending too much of your hard-earned cash at the movie theater.
Is it Action A Go Go or Action A No No? Let’s go with “Action A So So.”
This film gets…
- If you haven’t seen Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, it would probably be best to do so before seeing The World's End for the sake of continuity and the running gags.
Conclusion
If you’re already a Simon Pegg fan, the film is worth seeing in the theater. However, for standard Action A Go Go purposes, just wait to rent it when it comes out on Bluray or On Demand. It’s a worthwhile effort, with quite a few laughs and some decent sci-fi action towards the end. But better to save it for that Friday or Saturday night when you don’t know what to rent. It’s a safe flick, for ultimately, there’s nothing really terrible about it. But at best, if you're ever needing a film to just defrag, you can watch The World's End and say, “It served its purpose,” without spending too much of your hard-earned cash at the movie theater.
Is it Action A Go Go or Action A No No? Let’s go with “Action A So So.”
This film gets…
.jpg)
3 out of 5 Arnolds.
Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/
Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment