The World’s End Early Reviews And Reactions Are Mainly Positive
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While the third and final film in Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto (Blood and Ice Cream) trilogy doesn’t come out for two more months in the United States, The World’s End is positioned to open in theaters across the United Kingdom on July 19. The world premiere for The World’s End is this Wednesday in London, but film critics in England have already seen the movie and posted their reviews online. While The World’s End received positive early reviews, there are some who suggest the film takes a slight turn from the other films in the trilogy (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
WARNING: VERY MINOR SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE WORLD’S END, STOP READING NOW!
In a recent featurette about The World’s End, director Edgar Wright explained that the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy isn’t like your typical movie trilogy. The series of films that started in 2004 with Shaun of the Dead doesn’t expand the film’s narrative from one film to the next, but rather echoes a previous film’s themes. The World’s End takes themes of getting older and nostalgia to their next logical conclusion.
Here are a few comments from the latest World’s End reviews:
Empire Magazine
Bravely refusing to rigidly adhere to a formula that has been so successful, Wright, Pegg and Frost’s Cornetto Trilogy closer has tonal shifts you won’t expect, but the same beating heart you’ve been craving.
It would’ve been easy to regress, to rehash the winning formula of Shaun or Hot Fuzz, but The World’s End doesn’t ignore the passage of time — in fact, it becomes one of the film’s central themes. It’s not as immediately likeable as the first two Cornettos, admittedly; it’s not as funny or fast-paced, but it’s arguably the most heartfelt and thoughtful of the three.
The cast are on excellent form, the action is fantastic, and there are some very funny moments. The film’s contemplation of lost youth and the fidelity to the tone, without making constant reference to its inspirations makes The World’s End a lot more interesting than another whip-pan-packed reference-fest would have been, and the characters’ acceptance that they need to grow up and move on makes it an affecting, entertaining, if uneven conclusion to a fantastic trilogy.
There are a smattering of cameos — [that] critics have been asked not to reveal — some predictable and one not, but they don’t detract from what is essentially the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost show. They have delivered a smart, savvy, entertaining and genuinely funny film…and while the ending is familiar, it is also reassuringly correct and impressively staged.
… this is a tighter, smarter film than either Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, and buried beneath all the blue-goo aliens and terrible punning is a heartfelt meditation on the perils and pleasures of nostalgia…the film is carried through on sheer, giddy energy.
Although a fraction less gut-bustingly goofy than its predecessors, this sci-fi-themed quest story about a deadly pub crawl has more emotional heft, partly thanks to impressive supporting turns from Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan, dramatic heavy lifters who flex strong comic muscles here.
If you’re heading to San Diego Comic-Con this year and want to watch the film early, the movie will be screening during the convention, but you might have to work for it. Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost usually have a giant presence during San Diego Comic Con and this year should be no different. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s alien invasion film Paul was made in part in San Diego during the convention, while Edgar Wright “secretly” premiered Scott Pilgrim vs. The World during the same year in 2010.
The World’s End follows Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-year-old man who refuses to grow up and act his age. Two decades after he and a group of friends embarked on an epic pub-crawl dubbed “The Golden Mile,” Gary gathers the old crew to relive their glory days. As they stumble from pub to pub, they soon realize that the quiet town where they all grew up has changed. It seems that killer alien robots have invaded and plan to destroy all humans, not to mention ruin the pub-crawl. Can Gary and his friends finish The Golden Mile at the final pub, The World’s End?
Simon Pegg co-wrote The World’s End with Edgar Wright. Pegg described the new movie as “a much bigger proposition than the other two films.” If you’re a fan of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, it sounds like The World’s End is a worthy entry and conclusion to the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy.
The World’s End will also feature Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan, David Bradley, and Paddy Considine. The science fiction film will hit theaters in the U.S. on August 23.
