Trailer Review: The World's End

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have a real passion for movies and that passion combined with their sense of humor made films like Shaun of the Dead a treat to watch.

Now the duo have returned with the third film in their trilogy The World’s End. The plot is simple as five friends return to their hometown and decide to go on a local pub crawl. Their plan is to drink a pint in twelve pubs and The World’s End is the last pub on the list.
The group are played by Pegg, Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine which is truly inspired casting. They all bring something interesting to their roles and all have great comedy timing. The gang arrive in their hometown of Newton Haven only to discover there is something strange going on. All the townsfolk are acting strangely and they quickly realize the people are actually robots disguised as humans. Their origin is unclear and the trailer doesn’t give away too many details. The robots are extremely hostile and the five friends along with an old friend in the town who is still human (played by Rosamund Pike) try to survive. They flee to The World’s End pub for a final showdown with the evil robots.

The film is obviously inspired by some of the classic sci-fi thrillers of old including The Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The World’s End is a fun homage to those films and it contains a lot of elements and references to those movies. There is a scene where the humans try to blend in and pretend to be robots which is quite funny and a classic genre trope. In some ways the film is like a cross between Shaun of the Dead and Attack the Block. Both movies are Edgar Wright productions which is also interesting. Wright also directs this film which is good as he knows what he is doing.

Slapstick humour, good lines and jokes are definitely the main attraction here just like the previous films in this trilogy. The heroes are all rather goofy and it will be fun to seem them get into one scrape after another.

A film like this can often get by with cheapo special effects but The World’s End actually uses some decent CGI that doesn’t stand out in a bad way or look too fake. This is a real bonus and the robots have a nice modus operandi where blue light emits from their eyes and mouth when they are ready for battle. It’s a similar effect to the one David Lo Pan used in Big Trouble in Little China. The trailer is narrated like an old eighties American movie and the narrator even has a cheesy American voice. It is quite effective and will certainly get people talking about the film when they see the trailer online or in the cinema. The only problem with the trailer is it is a little too long but that is a minor niggle.

There is enough here to please both fans of the trilogy and also newcomers. The film looks fun and it should also be a wacky end to the trilogy. The World’s End will be released on August 23rd. Have a look at the trailer and share your thoughts.