Directed by Edgar Wright
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Three-Word Summary: Completes epic trilogy
In this film, not only does the world come to an end, but so does the famed Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy.
This film and it’s two predecessors, Shawn of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007), were all directed by Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
The World’s End manages to live up to the high expectations set by the previous two installments and does so by staying true to what made them great.
Although there is no direct connectivity within the movies themselves, there are very similar thematic elements that connect the trilogy.
Shawn of the Dead is about zombies. The World’s End features alien beings who are mindlessly, relentlessly automatonic, and difficult to kill.
Hot Fuzz is about a small town in the British countryside that seems unsettlingly too good to be true. The same can be said of the setting of The World’s End, Newton Haven, which has been forcibly pacified by the not-robot aliens.
All three films are distinctively comedic in nature, but feature a great deal of well-executed violence. And each of the three parts of the Cornetto Trilogy seem to end rather unexpectedly. What may make these endings unexpected is how unique they are in comparison with the dull, predictable dribble usually churned out by Hollywood.
What is refreshingly different about the three movies is their characters. Although Pegg and Frost are similarly inseparable in each, they portray very different roles.
In Shawn of the Dead, they are unmotivated slackers. In Hot Fuzz, Pegg is a straight laced city cop opposite Frost’s good natured, if naive local policeman.
And in this final installment, Pegg plays an unhinged alcoholic unwilling set on reliving his childhood, while Frost is a teetotaling former friend who is unwilling to continuing inability Pegg’s behavior.
What makes each of these three movies great is that they are humorous tributes to the film genres they inhabit. Each are filled with subtitle jokes and nuances that make multiple viewings all the more enjoyable.
The Cornetto Trilogy can now stand proudly as one of the most well-made film trios ever made — in such company as the original Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings and the spaghetti-Western Dollars trilogy.