The World’s End (2013): Written
by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, directed by Edgar Wright. Starring:
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsam, and
Rosamund Pike. Also, Finch. Running
Time: 109 minutes.
Rating: 3.5/4
Perhaps the biggest (and, for me,
the most enjoyable) twist in The World’s
End is getting to see Simon Pegg and Nick Frost swap their standard roles
from the previous two works in what is now, apparently, called the Cornetto
Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, for those of you who don’t
know). In both of those films, Pegg
(known, sadly, to most Americans as “the new Scotty guy”) plays the
stiff-collared straight man, while Nick Frost takes over duties as the quirky and quotable, and possibly insane, best friend.
Here, the roles are reversed- Nick Frost is the serious one, and Simon
Pegg the running punch line. While their
image-defying performances and their characters’ relationship to each other is
easily the strongest part of the film, The
World’s End brings enough of everything else to the table to make this one
of the must-see movie of the year, and it’s a refreshing start to the months of
“serious” movie releases we have waiting in the batter’s box.
Simon Pegg is Gary King, a
washed-out, drugged-out, alcoholic wreck of a man, who, after a particularly
aggravating AA meeting, decides to rope the old gang back together (i.e., he
lies and coerces) for a mid-life stab at the Golden Mile- twelve unique and
idiosyncratic pubs in their hometown of Newtown Haven. The goal?
A pint at every bar (twelve in total, if not more) by the end of the
night. Their previous attempt (upon
completion of high school) ended just short of pub #10, leaving Gary with what
seems to be several decades’ worth of regrets rattling around in his man-child
mind.
The gang is a glorious collection of
middle-aged, grade-A British acting talent- in addition to Nick Frost as Gary’s
“former” best friend Andy, we have Martin “The Bagster” Freeman as Oliver,
Eddie Marsam as Peter, and Paddy Consinine as Steven. Although the show-stealing performances come
from Frost and Pegg, each of these actors bring a welcome level of subtlety
(and even dignity) to a story that, by the third act, is pretty much bathing in
its own outlandishness. Viewers used Shaun or Fuzz might actually be surprised by how the first third of the
movie slowly builds up an excellent story around its very human characters,
with no hint of the sheer insanity waiting around the corner. One of the most moving scenes in the entire
film involves Peter suddenly coming face-to-face with one of the bullies that tormented
him as a child.
If the movie had stuck to that- a
mid-life-crisis/buddy comedy flick with a message about the waste of a life
spent in the glass- it would have been an excellent enough film, perhaps even a
great one. However, Wright (never being
one for restraint) doesn’t let things stay quiet for long. As the friends begin their trek though the
Newtown Haven pubs, they discover that the town has been “Starbucked” to an
alarming degree. The interior of the
bars all look the same, the beer tastes the same, and you can even order food
there (gasp!). Furthermore, old friends
and acquaintances who should remember them barely even glance their way. The guys (or at least some of them) grow more
concerned when Peter’s sister, Sam, shows up at one of the pubs and reveals
that she’s noticed the strange changes as well.
I won’t spoil the twist that
eventually comes out of this, but when it hits, it comes in hard and fast, and
doesn’t let up until right before the very end, when the movie takes another
surprising turn and stops the action dead in its tracks; whereupon the
characters (and the “villain” of the movie) face off and, in essence,
philosophically hash out what the jumbled events we just saw could mean for
human society. Typical? No.
Unexpected? Yup. Possible killjoy for some people? Probably, but if there’s one thing I love
about this movie (and about Edgar Wright’s works in general), it’s that he
doesn’t have one iota of interest in fulfilling your preconceived notions of
how a “proper” movie should conduct itself.
Even though World’s End finally goes just as over-the-top insane as the
previous Cornetto works, it never stops being a film centered around nostalgia and
the mechanics of middle-aged friendships.
Frost and Pegg are the focus, but each of the other characters (even the
sister, Sam, who rushes in and out of the plot faster than I would have liked)
have their own quiet moments, and none of them miss a beat. And although the initial (and very well done)
dive into the ravages of alcoholism via Gary King gets shunted to the side
somewhat, Simon Pegg gets more than a few last scenes to remind us just how
very sad a life lived like his can turn out, even if it (sort of) allows him to
figure out what’s going on in the town before anyone else does.
The effect of Wright’s unique and
bizarre editing style must also be given its due, as always. He has
a fascinating way of drawing attention to the tiniest, most mundane details of
daily life. At the first few pubs the
boys visit, the filling of each beer glass is shot and edited like a judge
pronouncing weighty sentences, with each pull of the lever loudly echoing
through the theater (making the tinny sound of Andy’s water being poured all
the funnier). Another scene provides a
textbook example of how to properly employ Doors songs in your movie. If I were to think of any complaints
concerning the technical side of the film, I would have to say that the use of
shaky cam in some of the barroom fight scenes (of which there are many- and I’m
not saying against who…or what) is a bit of a disappointment, especially coming
from the man who directed the stylized, video-game-adulating Scott Pilgrim.
I’m determined to stay vague about
the ultimate plot of World’s End,
along with its various “messages,” because this is the kind of film I think
people should go into fairly cold. I
knew the basic twist going in, but there’s so much more to the movie than that
that I was still constantly surprised, and was constantly laughing. It has its moments of solid, emotional depth,
but it never tries to be (nor claims to be) anything more than what it is-
fun. The
World’s End is, along with Pacific Rim and Key of Life, one of the
most fun times I’ve had watching a movie this year.
-Noah
Franc
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