WORLD’S END

 The parody genre has been in trouble for a while now, not in a financial sense but in an original and funny sense.  Financially movies such as Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Scary Movie etc have been doing rather well but anyone who compares these movies to the giants of the genre – Airplane, Naked Gun - can see that something is very wrong.  A strong reliance on bad slapstick, crude jokes and gross-out scenes are a strong feature of these movies.  It is refreshing then to see a series of films – Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and now this movie, World’s End,  that seem to properly grasp the concept of what a parody should be. 

One of the key feature that makes this film work is that it does not present us with paper thin characters  that are simply vehicles for the laughs,  instead we get real, fleshed-out individuals whose character traits, faults and strange neuroses provides the laughs.  The film’s main protagonist is Gary King (Simon Pegg) who when taking stock of his life begins to look back nostalgically at a pub crawl he attempted with his school friends when they were 17.  Deciding to reattempt this feat he persuades ,cajoles and emotionally blackmails his old friends into coming back to their hometown..........which has been secretly invaded by aliens. 

One of the film’s positive features is that the sci-fi elements of the plot complement the more down- to-earth comedy angles so well. Much of this is due to the film’s running themes of being stuck in the past and conforming to modern life which allows the science fiction elements to enrich the characters rather than simple window dressing.  The script is, of course, paramount in this process,however, the actors (especially Pegg and Frost)  must take a good share of credit.  Their performances  never lose their driving motivations even as the ‘’World’s End apocalypse’’ is enacted around them. Pegg’s performance as a deeply flawed protagonist is likely to become just as frustrating with the audience as he does for his associates – whilst remaining funny at the same time.  It is only towards the end of the movie that we begin to understand a bit more of his motivation for attempted the pub crawl.

There are some complaints that this film merely represents the culmination of the same film (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) repeated for a third time.   It is of course true that the films contain a general trend  (bland settings strange events, friendships, taking responsibility).   The reason I think that this film works on its own merits is that while familiar elements are indeed there,they are used in new ways and to accomplish new things. The film in fact veers into some rather darker territory than its two predecessors and there are some moments where it is quite easy to forget you are watching a comedy only for a funny line jolt you back into it.  The film does sag somewhat in the middle and you get the impression that the writers were floundering a little on how to develop the characters. The ending is certainly interesting and not at all what one might expect, blurring comic and thought-provoking themes closely together.

FINAL VERDICT 6/10 Not quite up the standards of its two predecessors but still a very interesting funny and thought-provoking film.