The World's End (2013)

What more fitting a way to close off the Cornetto trilogy than with a film about more or less the downfall of the human race? Even though you could argue that the first one, 'Shaun of the Dead', had a similar theme.

Well, this time the lads behind these films tackle science fiction, even though it is by far not obvious for the first half of the film, not even close. It all starts when main character Gary King reminisces about the highlight of his life, namely going for a massive pub crawl known as the Golden Mile in his hometown of Newton Haven. He and four of his friends attempted this on their last day of school and didn't complete it. Now it's many years later and Gary is still stuck in his high school days (because his life has been more of a disappointment than anything else and he is, in fact, a sad loser with mental issues). But he thinks that if he can get his former friends back together and finish the Golden Mile, he will find some sense of redemption. Needless to say his friends aren't exactly thrilled about it, but decide to humour him anyway. But when they are about to call it quits halfway through, things start happening that make everything take a serious left turn. In fact, you end up with quite a different film than you started out with.

The main strength of the Cornetto-trilogy is the characters and that is no different here. You'll see quite a lot of familiar faces and their banter works well. Simon Pegg is a pretty tragic character actually and you will be equal parts annoyed at him and yet feel sorry for him. He truly has nothing left in his life, whereas the others all have something to live for, albeit sometimes mundane to the n-th degree. But once again the dialogue is fresh and witty and you are sure to burst out laughing several times during the development of the story.

But still, this is a film that has the tough luck of following on the heels of both 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz'. The first one is one of the best zombiefilms of all time and the other one is a spot on satire of all clichéd Hollywood-police films. This one falls a little in the middle. You can see where they were going, but it doesn't always hit the mark. The dialogue is the main winner, but the uncovering of events behind Newton Haven is a bit slapdash and once the chasing begins, it is really just that: a collection of chase scenes. The final scenes are too tacked on and feel a little out of place. It's a shame really.

Now don't misinterpret this as seeing that 'The World's End' is a bad film. It is absolutely enjoyable and a fun watch, but it is the weakest of the three Cornetto-films, unfortunately.