A Mighty Fine Blog
François Truffaut once said that "Film lovers are sick people." He may have been on to something.
Shot/Reverse Shot Podcast
Mark Kermode Interview
Hope Lies on Television
Things I Learned From Movie X
Film Review: The World's End (2013)
They say that school days are the best days of your life. It's a lovely thought, especially since it conjures up images of youthful exuberance untainted by the responsibilities of adulthood, but also an insidious one. After all, for school days to be the best days of your life, everything afterwards has to be all downhill. All the excitement, joy and promise has to fizzle out into nothing, leaving only fond memories of a future that never came to pass. Gary King (Simon Pegg) not only sees school as the peak of his life, but one night in particular. Back in June of 1990, he and his friends Andy (Nick Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman) and Pete (Eddie Marsan) embarked on an epic pub crawl through their home town of Newton Haven. They had intended to drink in all twelve drinking establishment along the fabled Golden Mile, but ultimately they failed. Regardless, it was the best night of Gary's life, and everything since then has been a sad, sorry decline.
It's while recounting this story to a support group that Gary strikes upon a moment of inspiration; he'll get his friends back together, head back to Newton Haven and try to conquer the Golden Mile. After some cajoling, needling and outright lying, he crams everyone into his battered old car and they head off. But it soon becomes apparent that you really can't go home again, especially when your home has been taken over by robots that spew blue light.
I've been a huge fan of Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost since Spaced debuted on Channel 4 back in 1999. I think it's fair to say that their work has done more to shape my sense of humour and comedic sensibilities than anything else, with the exceptions of Monty Python and The Simpsons. I've followed their careers with great excitement, especially once they made the leap from television to cinema with Shaun of the Dead, and went into The World's End with very high hopes and more than a little trepidatious: the most stressful thing about being a fan is knowing there is always the chance that the people you admire will let you down. While The World's End is undeniably a much messier affair than any of their previous endeavours, it certainly didn't disappoint.
The brilliance of Wright and Pegg's work as writers is their ability to weave together the standard connective tissue of different genres - be they zombie, action or, in this instance, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers-style science fiction - with social commentary and genuine emotion. It's a heady brew that can leave an interesting aftertaste, and it also lends their films a density that can be a little hard to digest in a single sitting. This is particularly true of The World's End, which not only has copious amounts of back story that it needs to deal with right up front, establishing all the characters in a montage/voiceover sequence that is breathlessly delivered by Pegg and blisteringly assembled by Wright, but it has to layer its decades old friendships on top of a science fiction conceit which is not as immediately easy to grasp as "slacker vs. zombies" was for Shaun.
Wright and Pegg cleverly get around the complexity of their central metaphor by tying it to something incredibly earthy. The robots that have replaced the people of Newton Haven are shown to be the equivalent of big chains that buy up small traditional pubs and turn them into homogenous, identikit franchises completely bereft of personality. When Gary and his friends return to their hometown, the eeriness of change is foreshadowed by the way that every pub now looks exactly the same, which then folds easily into the broader critique of how individuality can be stamped out by adhering to a seemingly benign status quo. It's a very subtle way of grounding the craziness that unfolds as the characters progress along the pub crawl, especially since it allows the metaphor to fall into the background a bit in order to focus on the interplay between the central characters.
As much as The World's End is a science fiction film and a satire, it's also a very funny story about a group of friends who have drifted apart, but who reluctantly come back together for one last night out. What's great and incredibly true about that is the way in which the five key actors suggest a tremendous history between them, one which gradually begins to control them as the night goes on. They start out as a group of middle-aged men who are happy to see each other, but by the fourth or fifth pint they've pretty much reverted to being exactly the same as they were when they were eighteen. (Except for Gary who, somewhat tragically, never really stopped being eighteen.) They all have great chemistry with each other and within moments of meeting Gary we know instantly what each individual character's relationship to him was like, as well as why they drifted apart.
The main reason being that Gary is a raging arsehole. A blinkered narcissist who browbeats everyone into doing exactly what he wants them to do, Gary King is probably the best character that Pegg and Wright have created, and definitely the best that Pegg has played. (As well as representing a nice reversal for Pegg and Frost's usual dynamic, with the former being the fuck-up and the latter being the character who seems to have himself together.) Most people probably know a Gary: the person who is the life of the party right up until they get everyone thrown out; the one who has boundless charisma yet zero charm; the one who brings chaos with them wherever they go. Pegg is not afraid to make Gary relentlessly unlikable - to the extent that one of the main criticisms I have read about the film is that it's impossible to root for him. That's certainly true in the beginning, but once the pints start flowing and the punches start flying, his redemptive arc struck me as achingly poignant, especially once the film begins to delve into just how pathetic he is beneath the bluster.
Because ultimately, The World's End is about the danger of romanticising the past, a danger which Gary fully embodies. While the soundtrack is awash with songs from Gary's late '80s, early '90s heyday, recalling much happier days for everyone concerned, his journey is much darker than the songs might suggest. It's an obsessive, desperate one about someone trying to claw back some remnant of glory, and believing on some level that making it all the way to The World's End pub will give him a sense of closure. It would be a triumph after years of failure, but a very sad and small one. Even with the manic fight scenes and hilarious script, The World's End is a very bittersweet film about the disappointments of adulthood, but also about the symbiotic relationship between those disappointments and the allure of nostalgia. One feeds the other, and the end result is a broken figure like Gary King.
Frenetic and exhilarating, funny and heartbreaking, The World's End is another great comedy from one of the best filmmaking teams to come out of Britain in decades. It seems to peter out a little towards the end as the themes overwhelm the narrative, but even then it's so entertaining that it matters comparatively little. It's a fine topper to the so-called Cornetto Trilogy, though I prefer to think of it as just the start of whatever strange path Wright, Pegg and Frost decide to take next.
Follow @ejrdavies
By Edwin Davies
Labels: British Cinema, comedy, Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, science fiction, Simon Pegg, spaced
Welcome to A Mighty Fine Blog
Is it a place for film reviews and commentary, or just nonsense? You decide.
The latest reviews and articles appear on the Home page, while complete archives of reviews, written for A Mighty Fine Blog and other outlets, can be found in the Archive.
If you are interested in contributing or would like me to write for you, please email me on ed.mightyfineblog(at)hotmail.co.uk
Alternatively, you could whisper your request into the knot of a tree and hope that I hear it some day, but we don't live in a Wong Kar-wai film, so e-mail is probably the way to go. That, or Twitter.
Follow @EdwinJDavies
Ed's Top 20 TV Shows of 2016
Ed's Top 25 Films of 2017
The Best (Older) Films I Watched in 2020
Film Review: Into the Inferno (2016)
Blog archive December 2020 (2) January 2020 (1) December 2019 (1) February 2019 (1) December 2018 (1) December 2017 (3) June 2017 (1) March 2017 (1) January 2017 (2) December 2016 (7) November 2016 (5) October 2016 (1) September 2016 (3) August 2016 (2) July 2016 (1) June 2016 (2) May 2016 (1) April 2016 (4) March 2016 (3) February 2016 (9) January 2016 (6) December 2015 (12) November 2015 (10) October 2015 (10) September 2015 (9) August 2015 (7) July 2015 (11) June 2015 (6) May 2015 (7) April 2015 (6) March 2015 (9) February 2015 (8) January 2015 (4) December 2014 (11) November 2014 (16) October 2014 (8) September 2014 (7) August 2014 (10) July 2014 (9) June 2014 (8) May 2014 (3) April 2014 (5) March 2014 (4) February 2014 (11) January 2014 (7) December 2013 (19) November 2013 (15) October 2013 (8) September 2013 (7) August 2013 (5) July 2013 (12) June 2013 (14) May 2013 (8) April 2013 (16) March 2013 (7) February 2013 (9) January 2013 (8) December 2012 (16) November 2012 (10) October 2012 (11) September 2012 (13) August 2012 (14) July 2012 (10) June 2012 (9) May 2012 (7) April 2012 (7) March 2012 (11) February 2012 (11) January 2012 (11) December 2011 (7) November 2011 (10) October 2011 (9) September 2011 (13) August 2011 (16) July 2011 (6) June 2011 (9) May 2011 (10) April 2011 (10) March 2011 (9) February 2011 (12) January 2011 (10) December 2010 (17) November 2010 (2) October 2010 (3) September 2010 (10) August 2010 (4) July 2010 (5) June 2010 (8) May 2010 (3) April 2010 (9) March 2010 (9) February 2010 (10) January 2010 (3) December 2009 (10) November 2009 (5) October 2009 (6) September 2009 (9) August 2009 (31) July 2009 (9) June 2009 (4) May 2009 (5) April 2009 (4) March 2009 (7) February 2009 (3) January 2009 (6) December 2008 (2) November 2008 (1) October 2008 (1) September 2008 (1) August 2008 (3) July 2008 (2) June 2008 (6) May 2008 (5) April 2008 (2) March 2008 (4) February 2008 (8) January 2008 (6) December 2007 (3) November 2007 (1) October 2007 (5) September 2007 (8) August 2007 (15)
Take2 Guide to Spielberg
Edwin Davies 2010-2015. Picture Window theme. Powered by Blogger.