Kate (kate_nepveu) wrote,
Kate
kate_nepveu

The World's End (movie)

While we were on vacation in Baltimore, we went to see The World's End, the pub crawl/not-so-stealth SF movie by the team who did Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The trailer made this look entirely not my thing—dudes going back to their hometown to attempt to finish an epic pub crawl of their lamented youth, with lots of fight scenes, whatever—but I read spoilers because that's a thing I do, and as I thought from those, I did end up liking it.

I don't think it gives away too much to say that the rosy, nostalgia-laden description of the first pub crawl at the opening of the movie . . . is revealed to be given by one of the now-middle-aged participants in a group therapy session, Gary. The movie really does kind of a remarkable job in communicating that, actually, it is sad that Gary regards that never-finished pub crawl as the lost opportunity of his life, the high point to which he wishes to return, and that he is not in fact a very healthy person. (In a sympathetic way, not a point-and-laugh, meanspirited way.)

The fight scenes were still kind of long, and its portrayal of female characters is not very good, but it is funny and it has nice details, like the pub names and what happens in each. (If you like beer, though, be prepared to come out with a terrible thirst.)

And now, SPOILERS.

Because of the spoilers, I spotted when Martin Freeman's character was replaced right away. It's eventually clear before the reveal, of course.

To me, the apocalyptic end of the movie is something like, "Yes, you can be all individualistic and free-spirited, but there are consequences to that, and you have to live with them." Which is a cut above what I usually expect from this kind of scenario and I'm fine with it (again, I'd read spoilers, but I didn't quite grasp how this particular bit would play out on the screen).

Chad pointed out a really nice touch, that the bit with Gary and the whatever-they-called-them (Blanks?) ordering water in the bar is a callback to Andy's comment earlier.

Trailers: dire. We had:

  • A pair of movies about white boys doing bad things, with women solely as sexually-alluring decoration (The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle);
  • Tired humiliation comedy with a women-as-property premise (Ride-Along);
  • A Jackass movie, really, these are still being made?! (Bad Grandpa);
  • And a horror movie, during which I got distracted trying to decide if the unsafe crib arrangement shown was a hint it was in the past, a hint about the parents, or just the filmmakers choosing the expected visual over demonstrating proper safety (probably the latter) (Insidious 2).

    (For those unfamiliar with current practice: no pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, padding, etc. in cribs of infants, just a baby and a fitted sheet. Also, you put them down on their backs until they're old enough to roll over on their own.)

So, I suspect that's my last movie until either Catching Fire or the next Hobbit installment, whichever we can get to first. comment count unavailable comment(s) | add comment (how-to) | link

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