Yeah, sorry about the longer then expected hiatus. I promise I didn't intend to wait at all after my 100th review. but a lot of things got in the way. Then school started and complicated things more. Despite all that, I've come back with a, hopefully, triumphed return. Luckily, my return is a review of my most anticipated movie of this year. A movie that's the third in a trilogy of films that have affected my life and are very close to my heart. Does it live up to my obviously insane expectations, or has Edgar Wright made his first mistake. Let's find out in my review of...
PLOT
20 years ago, Gary King was, as his name suggest, king of high school. He had his five main friends, an endless supply of rebellious spirit, and the whole world ahead of him. On the last night of school, Gary and friends decide to attempt an epic pub crawl of 12 bars, 12 drinks, 1 night. Sadly, they never made it to the end. Cut to present day and everyone has moved on and now have respectable jobs and wives and kids, all except for Gary. He somehow convinces all five of them to try the pub crawl again with Gary being the only one who's entirely set on actually making it to the final bar, The World's End. Once they arrive, things seem different, but they pay no mind to it, Soon they discover that the town has been taken over by alien/robot things and must now make it to the World's End while trying to survive this new threat.
PROS
Just like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz before it, The World's End has the same fast pace and inventive camera movements and editing that has made Edgar Wright famous. I love his style and was happy to see he hadn't lost his touch.
The action in this movie is incredible. Just like the movie itself, the fights are fast paced without being disorienting, letting the choreography play out instead of cutting every half second. There are some truly awesome moments where the whole theater will go "OHHHHHH!!!!" and are worth a second viewing.
Once again, the comedy in the film is spot on, full of clever writing and fast punchlines. There's even Wright's signature background jokes and references to obscure and past films. Word to the wise, watch Shaun and Hot Fuzz before seeing this, there are a ton of references to those films, some obvious and most not. Overall, it had me and the audience laughing hard throughout.
The World's End plays with more dramatic story-telling this time, and it actually works. The first 40 minutes of this film is a buddy comedy with some underlying drama that's actually engaging. I almost didn't want the aliens to show up, well almost. It even gets a little teary-eyed near the end, at least it did for me.
CONS
While I do say I almost didn't want the aliens to show up, it does feel a little weird when they do. I kinda wanted the focus to remain on these friends and they're relationship. It's not a huge problem, since we do spend the first half of the movie with them and they're developed greatly, it's just the last half of the movie becomes a chase film and nothing more.
Speaking of being just a chase film, another problem I have is that this movie does little to introduce new things to its genre. Shaun of the Dead was always doing cool new stuff with zombies and Hot Fuzz did cop movies on a small scale. The World's End is just an average alien invasion movie, a well done one, but it doesn't offer many new things to the table.
CONCLUSION
As I stated before, I've been hyped for this movie ever since 2010, back when we only had a title and nothing else. Do I consider this a disappointment, no. Is it better then Hot Fuzz of Shaun of the Dead, no. The World's End is just as great as the last two, full of hard laughs and quick action. It takes a more dramatic and mature route at points, showing that as the filmmakers have aged, so has the tone of the film. For someone like me who's a huge fan of these movies and has seen them over 10 times at least, I don't even have to tell to see it because you most likely already have. For the rest of the viewing public, I still highly recommend it and hope you support this film.
RATING
FANS OF SHAUN of the DEAD AND HOT FUZZ:
CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT!!!!
EVERYONE ELSE:
RUN TO
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