8/10 - Well it was a lot of fun, wasn't it?
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg bring another fun adventure movie that's sort of, but not quite like, the other movies they've done.
Just like the other movies in this alleged "trilogy" (a status I don't feel should automatically imply a level of quality) The World's End stars Shaun, I mean Gary, who is an every-man facing unconquerable alienation, this time with aliens. As in the previous two movies (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) where everyone else became a zombie, and everyone else became a murderer, in The World's End everyone else becomes some sort of robot alien thing. As with the other two movies, the social outcast Shaun/Nicholas/Gary/Simon must harness the power of friendship to fight against the literal social pressure and save the day.
The World's End was good. Comparatively it is much more matured then their previous efforts. I worried that this movie would become repetitive and boring when at the launch their goal is to visit twelve pubs, something that doesn't lead to fascinating new adventures. Most of the comedy felt fresh, and the action never became monotonous. It was exciting and engaging, with a unique story that still felt grounded in character. There were in-jokes to let the audience feel smart, and the pacing allowed a huge number of events to occur without the stretched out feeling that Hot Fuzz had. It was unpredictable, not random, and just a lot of fun.
I wish there had been more women in this movie. I don't know how else to say this when I repeat it at almost every movie review. I don't know why it's such a complicated task. Perhaps when you take a boy's club like Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, they want to reflect what they know, and what they know is their own friendships. Almost every character was married, and had major relationships with women in their lives, yet there were no women with significant roles. None of them were full characters and only one appeared on screen. Honestly, why is this considered acceptable?
I thought the ending was a bit off. It was fine, just clunky and obvious. I wanted the subtext to be sprinkled throughout, but there were large chunks of the movie where the character's growing stories were forgotten in lieu of action sequences, and in order to make up for that there were long explanatory passages that were being shared like it was an instruction manual. In fact, the movie opens and closes with an unmemorable history lesson. Granted, these are subjective kind of issues that took me out of the movie, but maybe wouldn't bother everyone. It just all feels jarring and abnormal for some, otherwise great, storytellers. The major problem that may have snowballed was the antagonist. They are passive and have no motivation. When you don't have a force that can outsmart or out fight the protagonist, these problems happen. Having said all that, The World's End really did meet my expectations. Maybe it didn't surpass them, but that's okay because it was still great. It's worth seeing several times, because without questions there are details that are meant to be picked up on during your second or third watch. It's fun and original, and will be a nice addition to the blu-ray collection. Give them your money, they need it for beer.
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