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it's the end of the world as we know it
Sep. 5th, 2013 09:24 pmNo one on my reading list seems to be talking about The World's End, the last of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright's not-exactly-a-trilogy whose previous two installments were Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I saw it tonight and thought it was really good.
The premise is that Gary King (Simon Pegg) gets together four of his old friends to return to their home town for a pub crawl that they didn't manage to finish back in 1990. Everyone except Gary has settled into solid, careerist, in most cases married middle age; Gary, meanwhile, just wants to drink and take drugs, and actually hasn't seen his friends in years because he's alienated them so much. But they agree to the plan, and amidst tensions and recriminations, Plot Happens.
Nick and Simon are always a joy, although this movie isn't as, well, shippy as Hot Fuzz; Martin Freeman is also great in a role that I suspect was written for him because it is the essence of Martin Freeman-ness. The plot is brisk and interesting, the visuals have that Edgar Wright style, and I loved seeing the little references to the earlier films. There's a serious side too, about young dreams and middle aged realities, that I found powerful although it may work less well for those who aren't middle aged yet.
Downsides: Nowhere near a Bechdel pass, although the one female character in the movie is pretty cool. And a few of the jokes were kind of homophobic, which really surprised me coming from Simon Pegg.
The premise is that Gary King (Simon Pegg) gets together four of his old friends to return to their home town for a pub crawl that they didn't manage to finish back in 1990. Everyone except Gary has settled into solid, careerist, in most cases married middle age; Gary, meanwhile, just wants to drink and take drugs, and actually hasn't seen his friends in years because he's alienated them so much. But they agree to the plan, and amidst tensions and recriminations, Plot Happens.
Nick and Simon are always a joy, although this movie isn't as, well, shippy as Hot Fuzz; Martin Freeman is also great in a role that I suspect was written for him because it is the essence of Martin Freeman-ness. The plot is brisk and interesting, the visuals have that Edgar Wright style, and I loved seeing the little references to the earlier films. There's a serious side too, about young dreams and middle aged realities, that I found powerful although it may work less well for those who aren't middle aged yet.
Downsides: Nowhere near a Bechdel pass, although the one female character in the movie is pretty cool. And a few of the jokes were kind of homophobic, which really surprised me coming from Simon Pegg.
