"World's End" Brings Both Laughs and Closure

On its surface, “The World’s End” might seem like a predictable summer blockbuster with an alien invasion and copious drinking, but by the efforts of longtime collaborators Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, the film is much more than a mindless comedy. The film serves as a confident finale to the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,”which also includes the much-beloved films “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” As with the previous two installments, the immediately enjoyable humor and cheeky references initially belie the thematic and narrative heart of the film, as well as the care and thought that went into the making.

“For the sci-fi element, people want to ask, ‘What films are you specifically referencing?’ Well, none specifically; the problem is that with people who have grown up on genre films, you explain things in those terms,” Wright said in an interview with The Crimson on July 29. He explained that while the film certainly draws on social science fiction from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” this was done in order to explore questions of identity. The film’s (anti)hero, Gary King (Pegg), spends much of the alien invasion narrative struggling to bridge the gulf between his younger and older selves. “There’s a scene where Gary is happy about the fact that there is an otherworldly problem, because it’s easier for him to accept that there might be an alien invasion in progress than that he got old,” Wright said.

“I think all three films are about an individual or a small group of people facing off against the larger homogenizing force, be it zombies, the NWA [Neighborhood Watch Alliance], or the Network. In a way, the Network are a synthesis of the NWA and the zombies—they’re a kind of all-consuming force of regulation in [The World’s End],” said Pegg who starred in and co-wrote all three of the “Cornetto” films. When asked about their inspiration for this theme, Pegg explained, “We’re also from a very small island in the North Sea, and I think that’s part of Britishness itself, being a small thing up against a large group or amid a large crowd. It gets taken to its absolute extreme in this one, and its very fitting that it’s the final installment, because it’s the Earth versus the rest of the galaxy. Earth becomes England in this film, it becomes our little island in space.”

Even with the strong thematic undercurrent present throughout the film, “The World’s End,” never forgets that it is still meant to produce laughs. Speaking to the idiosyncratic and rapid-fire style of comedy established in the “Cornetto” films, Pegg explained, “I think that comes from being on the fringes of filmmaking and comedy, we’ve all preferred the alternative strains rather than the broader strokes of comedy, although there is broad comedy in what we do.”

“To me, you should never wait for people to laugh,” Wright added. “Sometimes you see movies where they pause for a laugh; you need to just keep powering through.”

“The World’s End” derives much of its charm from the undeniable chemistry shared by the real-life friends Pegg and Frost. In this film, Pegg plays the comedic foil to Frost’s straight man, a marked change from the previous two installments in the trilogy, and their experience working together is evident  in their effortless rapport onscreen. “The thing is, you can’t do this kind of screwball, machine-gun dialogue if the performers can’t do it. You have to have a cast that are really great at doing that, and that was really fun,” Wright said.

While the three films of the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” are not direct sequels to one another, they are still undeniably a trilogy, with thematic ties, a self-aware sense of humor, and countless stylistic similarities. Wright explained his insistence to the studio on shooting “World’s End” on 35mm film: “I was very strong about it, because I want the three films to look exactly the same. I want them to feel like a piece. I would hate for anybody to watch the new one, if it were shot in digital, to say, ‘Hm, something is weird about “The World’s End,” but I can’t put my finger on it.’”

Nine years after “Shaun of the Dead” was released, the end of the “Cornetto” Trilogy has come. When asked during an interview on Reddit.com how he felt about finishing the trilogy, Wright said, “It’s a huge relief that we’re making good on a promise. We are very proud of the movies. We’re relieved that it’s done.”