The World's End

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Wrapping up the Cornetto Trilogy, and representing mint chip is Edgar Wright's sci-fi flick, 'The World's End' (by the way, I forgot to mention 'Hot Fuzz' representing vanilla). When I first checked this out, I considered it Wright's weakest work, even though I still really enjoyed it. However, it has grown on me significantly over the years as perhaps the most relatable of all three movies.

The film starts out describing a pub crawl that took place in lead character Gary King's (Simon Pegg) youth. He and his four companions, Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine) Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) attempt the "Golden Mile" after the last day of high school - 12 pubs, 12 pints, and the sun rising on one of the greatest nights ever... that was incomplete, as they missed several pubs.

Years later, Gary wants to recreate that night, so gathers all of his old friends who have since moved on with their lives - Andy even having had fallen out with Gary quite significantly. Long story short, they do all agree to head back into their old town to try that Golden Mile again. But upon reaching town, it seems that things have changed quite a bit. Before they know it, the group finds itself in the midst of what seems to be a robot (but maybe don't use that word) invasion, and things go bizarrely off the wall. But, if you do pay close attention and follow along, there's something deeper to this movie than meets the eye.

On a personal level, it's easy for me to relate to Gary in that he really wants to recreate an awesome night he once lived in his past. I have tried that a few times with trips, parties, etc. But the important takeaway from this is that the lightning in a bottle that you caught on those particular awesome nights will never really be recaptured the way you remember. The simple reason is that the first time you do something cool is often the best experience you have with it because it's something new. The really important thing is that the friends you make along the way are still around, hopefully to one day be there to dethrone that awesome night you're trying to recreate with something even better.

This is also one of Wright's best films for his various formulas. For one, he puts a lot of imagination behind his work, and this is probably his most imaginative film on his resume. It's an interesting combination of "what the hell did I just see?" and "actually that makes a lot of sense". But I would beg any viewer to throw any sense of reality out the window, because some things about this make no damn sense. The biggest one being Gary NEEDING to finish a pint for each pub, which leads to things like him drinking while fighting - although it's actually pretty funny.

This film reminds me a lot of my friends an I and our nights out together in our youth. We weren't exactly pub crawlers, but we really enjoyed the pool hall, and would tend to grab a couple of brews while there - this is just out of high school and barely drinking age (19 up here in Canada, baby!) But it also does a good job at making me take a look at myself, and that's one of the reasons I love Wright's work - it'll do that. No matter what movie he's made, I'm willing to bet if one went through them all, they'd find something/someone to relate to.

Anyway, this completes Wright's famous Cornetto trilogy, which remains my all-time fave trilogy (yes, even above the original 'Star Wars'). There is something about Wright that speaks to me, and probably always will. He's loaded with imaginative ideas, plays to his audience while getting positive critical reviews, never sells out (he dropped out of directing 'Ant-Man', a freakin' Marvel movie, due to creative differences - though he still gets writing credit), and he stays far away from anything typical. if you wanna see Wright at his most bizarre, definitely check this one out!

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