The films by Edgar Wright are far more than they seem from at a glance. From the two reviews I've done of his past films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, there's a distinct message in the two about life: whether it's taking responsibility for your actions and life and making the necessary changes to progress into adulthood, or whether it's understanding that you need to slow down sometimes and enjoy life before you completely miss it through a chaotic work life and taking things just a bit too seriously.
The World's End, being the final film in the 'trilogy' featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, alongside Edgar Wright, continues that trend of adding an additional layer of meaning into the film, that as always, can easily be overlooked without proper attention.
While it may be the weakest of the films for numerous reasons: the comedy isn't there so much, and the things we love best about Edgar Wright's directing aren't particularly visible throughout the film. It does remain enjoyable and is amplified by the understanding of the bigger picture behind it all.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) is a struggling alcoholic that's filled with nostalgia, forever attempting to relive his greatest times during his teenage years. Known for being the coolest, the most attractive, and even living up to his surname. However, with time's inevitable passing, all his friends have since moved on into their adult lives with careers, wives, and children. King, however, just can't seem to accept it and move on into adulthood.
With nostalgia at heart, King meets up with each of his friends and either guilt trips them or tricks them into all meeting up at their hometown, where King's real plan is to complete the infamous pub crawl that they never finished as teenagers: it all ends at the World's End pub. As his plan finally comes to their attention, they're clearly not happy, but their surroundings begin to change as various inconsistencies arise with the strange characters that inhabit the town. Everyone seems very strange, up until King discovers with his friends that the people of the town have been replaced by these strange robot-like entities.
One could make the argument that the robot-like nature of the townspeople could be perceived as the group's real perception of the people around them: once at the top of the world in their youth, they've realised that they too have fallen from their heights and become mindless drones in society, doing the same thing everyone else does by getting serious about careers and responsibilities. That doesn't go to say that their way is the right way of living, but that society has pulled them in and changed them, and during the pub crawl they revisit their youth and see the present for what it really is: a facade. Fake happiness fuelled by nostalgia.
Revisiting the past is a good way to understand the present, and the future. It's where we can look back and learn at from our successes and failures. It's how we can learn and adapt and progress enough to ensure a better present and future for ourselves. The World's End tells us exactly that. It doesn't hold all of the answers, and it shows that allowing yourself to be fuelled by nothing but nostalgia can be very toxic and fog your ability to see clearly when life's issues do in fact arise and require attention. That hidden meaning alone makes the film very special, despite its mediocre methods of filmmaking and storytelling.
