The World’s End (2013)

☆ ☆ ½

The World’s End (2013) – E. Wright

I guess there are diminishing returns from these Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedies directed by Edgar Wright.  By this, the third movie (after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), the formula seems evident – take a genre, throw in some action, some broad British comedy (though not too dry), and race through things, not forgetting to have a few touching human moments (about friendship).  OK, I can’t quite recall the earlier movies that well but The World’s End feels a bit thin.  The plot sees Pegg’s loser-who-hasn’t-grown-up character getting his old friends (who have) together to do an epic pub crawl that they didn’t quite complete back in 1990 when they graduated from high school.  However, their old town seems to have been taken over by the Body Snatchers who become increasingly menacing.  Cue the action.  I’m not saying that there aren’t some good witticisms here or that a lot of thought hasn’t gone into the script/set design/casting, it’s just that it all left me a bit flat.  Your average action comedy really is a kind of unchallenging junk food these days -- and I accept that sometimes that’s what you want – but it isn’t sustaining.