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I cannot imagine any better place to catch at the newly opened Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers, NY (more on this later) for the final installment of Edgar Wright’s “Cornetto,” a.k.a “Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy, The World’s End.

For the uninitiated, the trilogy started in 2004 with the hilarious zombie (we don’t say the zed word!) installment, Shaun of the Dead followed a few years later by the police spoof Hot Fuzz. Headlining each of these films are Wright’s frequent partners-in-crime, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. If you are worried that you have to catch up on these films before catching this feature, DON’T; this series is a trilogy in the loosest sense – many of the key players happen to be the same but the stories are totally different and not interconnected in any way. However, that said, you would do yourself a great cinematic disservice if you chose not to catch the prior two.

Now that this is all settled, here is my summary of the action that takes place in The World’s End:

The year is 1990 and in the suburban U.K. enclave of Newton Haven, five buddies decide to celebrate the end of school by embarking on an epic pub crawl. Sadly they fall short of their quest, with the last pub on the list, The World’s End eluding them. Fast forward roughly 20 years later, and we seen the boys, now men (obviously) in their adult stations, far away from the days of reckless youth – they are responsible husbands, fathers, career men – with the exception of Gary King (played by Simon Pegg). Gary is a manchild, who never moved past those halcyon adolescent years. Despite years of estrangement, he decides to “get the band back together” to finish what they started oh so many years ago. The crew includes Andy (Nick Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman), and Peter (Eddie Marsan). After convincing them to return to Newton Haven to complete the long-delayed mission, they notice that things are not quite as they remember them and soon find themselves on a mission of an entirely different sort …

At this point, the film descends (ascends) into a race against time to save humanity, really. It achieves this while making us laugh. In addition, there is theme that strikes a chord with the film’s target demo – it is a piece that underneath the surface includes some retrospective on vanished youth and lives approaching middle age, often at a pace that is a little more rapid than one wants.

My thoughts? The balance of comedy sci-fi works in a way similar to how the previous films revised and re-imagined the zombie and buddy-cop film genres respectively with the same, enjoyable result. Obviously Pegg (who again co-wrote with Wright) and Frost are the most recognizable performers and as always deliver the goods (I am especially a fan of Mr. Frost’s performances), it should be duly noted the rest of the cast, including (among others) Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan are equally effective at bringing the right amount of laughter and enjoyment to the proceedings.

The Wright-Pegg stable of comedy films (and television shows) definitely carry a certain cache with them, in this case making an end product that has a VERY loyal following who share their fan-boy devotion to many of Generation X’s cultural milestones. I say this because, as always, it may not be suited to everyone’s taste and some of the comedy MAY (just may) be lost in translation to moviegoers not familiar with some of the cultural references in the film. In my mind, this is another reason you may want to see the first two films before The World’s End. In fact, this is exactly what I did.

As part of the promotion leading up to the release of the film, cinemas nationwide were running Cornetto trilogy marathons, exhibiting the three films in a row. I tell you, I think sitting in the theater with a large group of like-minded folks was the perfect way to usher in the screening of The World’s End. Just wanted to put that out there.

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At this late date, I highly doubt you will able to have this experience of seeing all three on the big screen; regardless, The World’s End is recommended viewing.

Fans of Edgar Wright will recognize his name from works such as:

Shaun of the Dead
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
and the television series, Spaced.

Here he is with frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for the 2007 black comedy Hot Fuzz. It is essentially a send-up of the buddy cop genre.

Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is a police officer with the Metropolitan Police of London. He is a “super-cop,” which oddly enough does not sit well with his supervisors (there is such a thing as being TOO good). As a result, he is sent off to the sleepy English village of Sanford, where it is supposed that he will not have to worry about any criminal activity. In Sanford he is partnered with Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) who is in awe of his new partner’s big city prowess. The other members of the Sanford Police force (headed by Jim Broadbent as Frank Butterman, Danny’s father) are not as impressed by the big-city import.

The rest of Sanford’s citizenry welcome Nicholas with varying degrees of acceptance. The town’s characters are an interesting lot to say the least. Of particular significance especially at the beginning of Nicholas’ investigations is Simon Skinner (the wonderful Timothy Dalton) manager of a local grocery store.

All is quite until a series of suspicious deaths draw the attention of Angel. He soon discovers that while the crime rate (and murders) are nil, Sanford has a high number of deaths by accident or suicide in its records. After some snooping around he discovers an appalling secret about “The Village of the Year.”

As a measure of how much I liked this film, I cannot tell you how many times I have watched it and continuously laughed at what I saw. The surprise cameos (see how many you can count) are well worth the price of admission.

For the uninitiated, one thing that I bring to a potential viewer’s attention is the fact that there is a great deal of bloody violence in the film despite its overall comedic tone.

Personally this was my first complete entree into world of Edgar Wright. Since then I have watched bits of “Spaced” and not all of Shaun of the Dead. On the strength of this outing I plan on completing the above and to sink my teeth into Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

The Boys are Back and Headed to “The World’s End” (2013)

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Hot Fuzz (2007)