Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's (Shaun of the Dead) genre-defying film deconstructs the drunken buddy comedy, comments on growing up/old and recent social change, and spins into SF/horror/comedy gold.
Back in high school, Gary King (Pegg) led his buddies in debauchery and irresponsible fun. Approaching midlife now, the gang have settled into respectable, productive lives, but Gary has failed to move on. The teen years really were the best years of his life; he's a penniless wreck now, still reveling in his adolescent glory days. His old mates clearly aren't happy to see him turn up in their lives again. Nevertheless, he convinces them to return to the old home town and the epic pub crawl they got too drunk to complete at 18. What might be another Hangover takes turns into the utterly bizarre as the old boys realize something sinister has happened to Newton Haven during their years away.
We start with the drunken buddy comedy, but as it has never been done before. Gary King gives us a darker, more realistic version of the character who usually takes center stage in such films. Like Shakespeare's Falstaff, Gary's entertaining to watch but would be infuriating and dangerous to know. The other actors give pitch-perfect performances, funny and believable and frequently touching. Even the supporting characters demand attention. Look, in particular, for David Bradley (Broadchuch, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and more TV than I can recall right now) as crazy Basil. The film would have been hilarious, inventive, and moving even if it had been satisfied to reconceptualized its initial, apparent genre.
Of course, we soon realize something more is afoot. Their town has grown, in some respects, more pleasant, but less unique, as though under the influence of some unseen hegemony. The local pubs have been taken over by chains. People no longer recall our protagonists. Their experiences, familiar to anyone who has grown older away from the former stomping grounds, turn increasingly off-kilter. As the mystery unravels, the film plunges gleefully into its own insane premise. World's End continues to deliver big laughs without breaking character or ignoring the implications of that premise.
Yes, World's End lets loose a little with the action sequences. Even in a film as off-the-wall whackadoo as this one becomes, I find it difficult to believe the fight in the beer garden would pass unnoticed. These comprise small matters. Pegg and Wright have penned as tight a comedy script as any. Nothing gets wasted. Audiences will continue to argue about the ending, with its ironic and profoundly ambiguous messages. I give the filmmakers points because, well into the final act, I had no idea how this film would end, and they nicely evade a couple of easier conclusions that would have felt like narrative cheats.
Like a good deal of pop culture, the film combines elements that seem universal with ones that feel very contemporary. I have no doubt people will reference World's End for years to come; how it will hold up over those years remains to be seen. In 2013, it exists as the film of the summer, a laugh-out-loud comedy and astute, socially aware SF.
Directed by Edgar Wright
Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Simon Pegg as Gary King
Nick Frost as Andy Knightley
Martin Freeman as Oliver Chamberlain
Paddy Considine as Steven Prince
Eddie Marson as Peter Page
Rosamund Pike as Sam Chamberlain
David Bradley as Basil
Kelly and Stacy Franklin as the Twins
Thomas Law as Young Gary
Zachary Bailess as Young Andy
Jaspar Levine as Young Steven
James Tarpy as Young Peter
Luke Bromley as Young Oliver
Flora Slorach as Young Sam
Michael Smiley as Reverend Green
Sophie Evans as Becky Salt
Samantha White as Erika Leekes
Rose Reynolds as Tracy Benson
Richard Hadfield as Young Shane
Francesa and Charlotte Reidie as the Young Twins
Darren Boyd as Shane Hawkins
Angie Wallace as Mrs Page
Steve Oram as Motorcycle cop
Bill Nighy as Network
Pierce Brosnan as Guy Shepherd