The World's End

Saw The World's End (thanks Paul!) It was a rollicking Nick Frost/Simon Pegg film from the so-called Cornetto trilogy (I always read the imdb trivia about a film and oh boy do they ever want you to know that this is called "The Cornetto Trilogy") This time we are introduced to the protagonist, Gary King, on the happiest day of his life which unfortunately happened when he was 17. From this halcyon time, his whole life has been slowly amounting to not very much. His "gang" of four friends have moved on to jobs which require suits, one of them becoming some kind of CEO, another retiring at an early age to pursue fitness, living the modern-millennium dream of compassionate wealth. Only Gary has remained fixed in place.

Most of the film, however, is devoted to a sinister (and extremely well-done) alien plot to take over the world by means of gentrification. This is a physical (and punchable) manifestation of the protagonist's frustration with the way his life has gone. While all others have prospered, he has remained drunk and idle, with no visible means of income, apart from, presumably, his parents. How can this be? A conspiracy is the only answer. The film has this facet (and others) to notice for clever people like you and me, but for everyone else (and for you and me as well) there's rat-a-tat-tat jokes, uproarious action scenes, and a script that starts out fast-paced and accelerates to a mad sprint. It's the whole package.

I really really liked the sobering-up and dealing with issues the film does shortly before the end. It's gratifying to see an action/comedy film actually address the emotional state of the protagonist. Gary is a deeply flawed human being. He kicks a lot of ass, but the film does not let this alone redeem him. He has to face his demons to do that. Can you imagine an Arnold Schwarzenegger character doing that? Also, of course, this soul-baring happens during a fight sequence. This is interesting and might be due to an insulting assumption that the sort of person who goes to see and action/comedy isn't interested in feelings, or it may be a subtle skewering of the difficulty men have talking to each other about their emotions. In any case, this is a good, smart film which even evil, stupid people can enjoy.