A pub crawl through 12 pubs? In The World’s End, a booze cruise turns into a sci-fi horror trip. But Edgar Wright’s comedy should have been quite different. Starting today, the film is available for free on Amazon Freevee.
“The World’s End” is the conclusion of Edgar Wright’s Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, usually shortened to just the Cornetto trilogy. The films, which are not connected in terms of content, were written by lead actor Simon Pegg and director Wright, with each entry dedicated to a different genre. While “Shaun Of The Dead” is a deep bow to the classic zombie film, “Hot Fuzz” takes cop thrillers and buddy movies à la “Bad Boys” for a ride. The trilogy concludes with “The World’s End”, a mix of mid-life crisis drama and alien invasion science fiction that, while never able to match the quality of its predecessors, is nevertheless a worthy conclusion to the series.The wacky sci-fi comedy “The World’s End”, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Marvel star Marin Freeman, can be streamed on Amazon Freevee from today, 20 December 2022. Freevee is Amazon’s free streaming service. While you don’t need a Prime Video subscription, you’ll have to be prepared for commercial breaks.
The wacky sci-fi comedy “The World’s End” starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Marvel star Marin Freeman can be streamed on Amazon Freevee starting today, 20 December 2022. Freevee is Amazon’s free streaming service. Although you don’t need a Prime Video subscription, you will have to be prepared for commercial interruptions.
AND THAT’S WHAT “THE WORLD’S END” IS ABOUT
Gary King (Simon Pegg) has a real problem. The man is around 40, addicted to alcohol and living forever in the past. But Gary sees a way out of his misery: If he could finally conquer the “Golden Mile”, a booze cruise in his hometown Newton that leads through twelve pubs, together with his old school friends, then everything simply has to change. So he calls his old friends, with whom he was unable to finish the legendary booze cruise in 1990.
The problem: the others have all become middle-class, have jobs and children. An extensive booze cruise simply doesn’t fit into their life plans. But somehow Gary still manages to beat his old comrades to the punch, and so the “five musketeers” meet one Friday afternoon in Newton Haven to take up this alcoholic challenge once again. But the harmless booze cruise soon turns into an apocalyptic hell trip…
“THE WORLD’S END” SHOULD HAVE BEEN QUITE DIFFERENT
“The World’s End” should actually have looked quite different, because instead of sci-fi doomsday, screenwriters Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright wanted to go much more in the direction of coming-of-age and focus on the problems of a group of men who have outgrown themselves and their friendship. Thus, the first version of the script was much more reminiscent of films like “Confusion – Summer of the Freaked Out” than of “The Women of Stepford”.
Simon Pegg in particular also tried to process his own experiences with alcohol addiction through Gary. He plays the character in the film as an emotionally dysfunctional alcoholic who cannot break out of the past and clings to the memories of youth. All that matters to him is the pub crawl, which must be brought to an end against all odds. In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Simon Pegg said:
“That’s the thing about addiction. It’s like you’ve grown a second head that’s just out to destroy itself, and it puts that above everything else – your marriage, your kids, your job. “
