The World’s End is a film directed by Edgar Wright, with a screenplay co-written by Wright and Simon Pegg.  The film is about a group of friends that return back to their hometown to attempt an epic pub-crawl.  The trip includes visits to twelve bars in town, culminating with a beer at the final bar, The World’s End.  However, on their drunken journey, the group encounters some peculiar townspeople—in fact, the town has predominantly become blue-blooded robot-like aliens.  The five friends must then battle it out with these mysterious beings, all the while saving each other in the process.

The World’s End is the third film in Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy, following Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007).  This fall, I watched the previous two films in Wright’s trilogy for the very first time, and I instantly fell in love with these movies.  Needless to say, I was expecting big things from his most recent effort, The World’s End.  This script, co-written by Wright and leading man Simon Pegg, was insanely hilarious, and it built upon everything that made each of the first two films uproarious.  British humor is starkly different than traditional American humor, and because of this, American audiences do not always find British films earth-shattering on our own Richter scale of comedy; however, Wright and Pegg have continued writing these screenplays in a way that appeals to all audiences, so if you are interested in a drop-dead, side-splitting alien invasion featuring more beer than you know what to do with, then this film is for you.

Simon Pegg stars as Gary King, a recovering drug addict that simply has not let the past go.  He and his friends failed the epic pub-crawl many years before, and he is determined to get the gang back together to finally complete their mission.  Unfortunately, Gary’s friends all have established careers and are not initially into the idea of joining him on this trip back to their hometown, mainly because Gary is a disease that they prefer steering clear from.  A hilarious cast joins Pegg as his gang of reluctant cohorts: Paddy Considine as Steven, Martin Freeman as Oliver, Eddie Marsan as Peter, and Nick Frost as Gary’s former best friend Andy.  Nick Frost and Simon Pegg have a long history together in their film careers, including co-starring together in each of Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto” movies, and their chemistry clearly makes this project even better.

In a year packed with films about apocalyptic-like events, The World’s End is by far the best one.  It takes such a unique perspective on the genre, and it is made with a renowned filmmaking style and an incredibly amusing script.  The World’s End is rated R for pervasive language including sexual references.

The World’s End trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFo7eJR2cvc

Academy Award nominations for The World’s End:

NONE

Previous movies on the countdown of the Top 15 Films of the Year:

7. American Hustle

8. The Spectacular Now

9. Nebraska

10. Captain Phillips

11. Her

12. Philomena

13. Fruitvale Station

14. The Place Beyond the Pines

15. Dallas Buyers Club