Nine years after director Edgar Wright and comedic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost teamed up for zombie p*ss-take Shaun of the Dead and six years on from their buddy-cop parody follow-up Hot Fuzz, comes the long awaited finale of this thematic trilogy (known by most as the "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy"). Part three turns its attention to sending up the alien invasion flick as a bunch of ex-school mates get together for a pub crawl but are ultimately forced to fight for their lives against a passive-aggressive race of blue-blooded androids. Sounds bonkers? That's because it is. Hilariously so? Unfortunately not. Where Shaun and Fuzz were actually quite clever in their humour and drew out consistent belly laughs, The World's End seems unrefined and rushed; the gags are more smile-worthy than laugh-out- loud. It also feels forced, both narratively and emotionally. The friendship between Pegg and Frost in their previous Cornetto outings (as well as with their American adventure Paul) was utterly genuine and subsequently generated an affection to go along with the comedy, however the relationship here is too overt in its efforts to gain poignancy and doesn't earn it as a result. Despite it's many flaws, there is still a plethora of reasons why fans will get their kicks though. Firstly, the leads have wisely surrounded themselves with terrific actors including Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike and - with a show-stealing turn - Eddie Marsan, whilst the cartoonish violence is again highly entertaining and a bathroom-set rumble that pays loving homage to The Warriors is one of the best brawls of the year. By no means a failure, but waiting for the DVD wouldn't be a bad option.
Review of The World's End
