The World's End

The World's End took five years to come out after Hot Fuzz to end the Cornetto trilogy. It unfortunately is not the strongest of the three. In the most direct terms it just isn't nearly as funny as Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead. Part of this is perhaps the parodies are bit too vague in comparison. It barely is even a parody of say an Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it is instead more of just a funny version of one of those films. That is to say it is funny but it does not result in nearly as entertaining of an experience as the previous films. The film is more overtly serious at times, and it is there technically where it is the strongest. This particularly in Simon Pegg's excellent lead portrayal of a man essentially stuck in the past, and in an effective subversion of the previous films where he played the saner one. Here that goes to Nick Frost who's good as his teetotaler friend with a troubled past, but very subdued again showing the difference from the other films. Now the film actually does work in its more serious intentions involving the central character study, for the most part. The problems though aren't because of that focus though. The alien story isn't as compelling, the action sequences as engaging, and worst of all it doesn't quite stay true to itself. The reason being it has a wholly silly ending, far more silly than anything in Hot Fuzz or Shaun, that is ill-fitting to the more subdued tone of the rest of the film. It's still a good film but a major step down from the greatness of the previous two films.
4/5