Film Talk: Looking Back – Taking on 'The Golden Mile' with The World's End

An absolute giggle-fest of no mistaking, 2013’s The World’s End stands as one of the greatest science fiction comedy efforts ever made. It’s as simple as that.

Directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike, this masterpiece of a flick follows a gang of old chums who return to their beige hometown to reattempt a pub crawl they failed at decades earlier, only to discover the town is in the grip of an alien invasion!

The third and final film in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, The World’s End follows 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz to seal the deal on a near-perfect series of comedy flicks.

Described by Wright as social science fiction in the tradition of John Wyndham and Samuel Youd, The World’s End was always destined to delight fans of Frost and Pegg, but how would it fare at the box office? The glorious team watched and waited...

Gary King (Pegg) is determined to reunite his childhood friends in an attempt to recreate a marathon pub crawl, ‘The Golden Mile’, last attempted by the group 20 years ago.

With a vision of fond friends finally completing the twelve-pint-twelve-pub challenge, Gary sets out to assemble his pals for what he is sure will be a blaze of glory. This time around however, they’re older, wiser, and a little less enthusiastic about the prospect of the debauchery said bar crawl will no doubt involve – particularly Gary’s former best pal Andy (Frost), who has gone sober.

Undeterred, Gary convinces the boys to give The Golden Mile one last go, though even at pub number one, the lads begin to sense something fishy about their old hometown.

Hitting bar after bar, the drunken pilgrims discover that many of the town’s inhabitants are not who they appear to be, and an alien conspiracy is afoot! However, not called ‘The King’ for nothing, Gary is determined to make it to the final pub – The World’s End – even if doing so means the doom of the group, and of humanity itself. Charge your glasses – this night is going to be apocalyptic...

Grossing $46.1 million against a $20 million budget, The World’s End exceeded financial expectations and also delighted critics. The performances of Pegg and Frost were highly praised, as were those of Considine, Freeman, Marsan and Pike, all of whom gelled superbly to give the flick the chemistry that any ‘lads’ night out’ film requires.

Touching as well as hilarious, The World’s End has plenty of heart as well as humour, and though it would have been almost impossible for this flick to surpass the greatness of Shaun of the Dead, it gives it an almighty attempt.

Joyous from start to finish, there has seldom been a better flick made to enjoy with your best buds, a curry, and – needless to say – a beverage or two. Ideal for the cold nights of the month ahead – we’ll see you at The World’s End.