The new Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movie that is somehow considered the third and final film in the Cornetto Trilogy. If you are wondering what the other two films are, the first is Shaun of the dead, followed by Hot Fuzz. The name for the trilogy is a sort of joke based off of ice cream they ate in the 3 films. Cornetto being a brand, and each film features a flavor packed in a color to represent that film. First one was about zombies so we have red ice cream, 2nd police so we get blue. This one being aliens we get a green wrapper in the final sequence floating by a fence. So are the 3 films related in other ways? Other then the cast and a line about shortcuts being in all 3, not really. We do get a running gag about them not being able to jump fences, but the stories are not connected.
So this movie is about aliens, or rather they are simply a part of it. It is about 5 people who used to be friends but went different ways. They are all brought back together by Gary King, played by Simon Pegg, in order to do a bar crawl named "The Golden Mile." 12 pubs in one night, something they tried 20 years ago but failed to accomplish. There is a bigger story here that deals with King trying to figure out who he is and how to get his life back together, but most of that doesn't really come into play until much later on. Interesting enough, if you follow along with the names of the bars as they go, the names actually line up with what is going to happen at each one. As the comedy starts to pick up, and the movie is hitting its stride, the big swerve comes into play. After our heroes are finally good and drunk, the Alien Robots finally attack...Or defend themselves from a depressed drunk. After that the movie much like the other 2 in the trilogy, turns into more action then drama. We get some pretty decent fight scenes, and cool alien robot effects. And as they continue to drink, the humor gets better with each new pub. This movie paints drinking in a very positive light, so if that bothers you, you might as well skip it. Drunk Nick Frost is hysterical though, and worth the price of admission alone.
Speaking of Drunken Nick Frost, does alcohol turn you into a kung fu master in real life? Because I may give up the whole straight edge thing if it does. The fight scenes in this movie were very well choreographed. The robots all had the same style, but for whatever reason Pegg and his group were all pretty well versed in hand to hand combat also. Nothing overly flashy, but seeing Frost drop elbows and breaking out huge slams was oddly satisfying. I think all 5 members of the group ended up beating at least one robot down with their bare hands. The violence was comical though, as you would expect from these guys. Seeing a robot have its arms ripped off, then replace with legs from one of its fallen comrades for example. Or when Pegg rips ones arm off, and then the arm keeps attacking him. Even the more intense parts of the film kept you smiling.
If you are reading this, I will assume you are familiar with most of the cast involved. Pegg and Frost have done quite a few films and have had tv shows before. Martin Freeman is fairly well known from Sherlock, the Hobbit, and other things. Even Pierce Brosnan shows up for awhile. The acting in the film is good, and it really benefits for it. The dialogue though had me troubled from time to time. Gary King, the lead, is a jerk. He is the kind of guy everybody hates. Stuck in his glory days of the past, and dragging everybody else down so he is not the only one depressed. He ends up lying to pretty much every one of his old friends in order to convince them to go on the crawl. And he treats them all poorly while they are out. The character was written well enough, but most of the time my dislike for him brought portions of the movie down. Also parts of it were simply hard to understand, though that is only because of the accent. Thankfully though that only pertained to the beginning of the film. I would say after the first 20 minutes or so, it started to pick up and the issues I had melted away. As the friends become more and more intoxicated, they get funnier, and oddly easier to understand. And seeing the final showdown where they try to reason with the advance alien species, after a good 12+ pints, was a high point for the film.
Really the only other issues I had with the film were small things. Stuff like, why are they still doing the pub crawl while alien robots are trying to abduct them? Something that is explained later on, at least sort of. And the ending, which didn't really bother me, but my wife seemed to dislike it. So we have a strong comedy with a slow start. You have a good buddy film with far better action then I thought it would have. You have a strong twist that actually helps the story out and works well within the limits of the film. You have decent effects, and a very strong final act. I would say the few negatives I had were easily overlooked by everything else the film offered.
This got me thinking, where would I put it in relation to the other 2 movies in the trilogy. I would say Shaun of the Dead is still the best. But this and Hot Fuzz are very close....I would have to re watch that one to decide. But I feel very confident in saying, if you enjoyed Hot Fuzz, you will enjoy this. Likewise, if Hot Fuzz did nothing for you, this probably won't either.
So if you are looking for a good comedy, or even just want something with some action, give "The World's End" a chance. Or at least a consideration, it easily deserves it.
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