Gary King (Simon Pegg) has convinced his friends from high school to come back with him to their hometown, Newton Haven, to finish the Golden Mile of having a pint at 12 pubs with it ending at The World’s End.   They only finished with eight pubs on the first attempt at the end of high school, but Gary has got the gang back together for one unforgettable night.  Peter (Eddie Marsan), Oliver “O Man” (Martin Freeman) who used to have a birthmark on his face in the shape of a 6, Steven (Paddy Constantine), and Andy (Nick Frost) reluctantly join Gary on his quest, but they soon start to realize things have changed in New Haven and an invasion from an another world has taken over the town (robots with blue blood).  Gary still wants to shag Oliver’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike) who Steven always loved. 

 

THE WORLD’S END is the best of the three films in the Cornetto trilogy (with SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ being the other two films) with a nice balance of humor, sci-fi, and nostalgia for the early 1990s (including music from bands of that time like Sister of Mercy and Gary wears a Sisters of Mercy T-Shirt).    The movie has a great supporting cast which includes Pierce Brosnan and Bill Nighy.  The movie starts out as normal as it lays on the humor and memories for yesterday as it slowly takes a Body Snatchers type of atmosphere as only Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright could do it.  You really are for the characters (even when Gary is being a total ass) and laugh at the right times.  I have to say THE WORLD’S END has to be one of my favorite movies of 2013.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Deleted scene that is fun to watch, but it doesn’t really add to the film.

Out-Takes (10:44) which are very fun to watch- just as much as the movie

Alternate Edits (4:32) of a few scenes from the movie.

 

COMPLETING THE GOLDEN MILE: THE MAKING OF THE WORLD’S END (48:06)- two part making-of that goes in-depth of how the film was made and how everyone think Edgar Wright is great for being focused because he is a perfectionist.

Four quick promotional featurettes which run about 3 ½ minutes each:

DIRECTOR AT WORK, PEGG+FROST= FRIED GOLD, FRIENDS REUNITED, and THREE FLAVOURS CORNETTO TRILOGY

FILLING IN THE BLANKS: THE STUNTS AND FX OF THE WORLD’S END (27:40)- a look at the stunts and visual effects, and how sometimes the two are combined.  I found it interesting of how they used practical elements and green screen as a starting point for the visual effects.

Animatics (11 minutes) of the prologue and climax sequences with the storyboards set to dialogue

 

HAIR AND MAKE-UP TESTS (4 minutes) of the cast

REHEARSAL FOOTAGE (6:20)- a great behind-the-scenes look at the cast rehearsing the scenes and stunts

STUNT TAPES (BATHROOM FIGHT, TWINBOT FIGHT, BEEHIVE FIGHT)(8:39)

VFX BREAKDOWN with Frazer Churchill, Visual Effects Supervisor

BITS & PIECES (3 ½ minutes)- a few extra bits from scenes not in the final film

THERE’S ONLY ONE GARY KING- OSYMYSO’S INIBRI-8 MEGAMIX (4:36)-

SIGNS & OMENS (7:51)- a look at the numbers that feature in the production design of the 12 pubs and how the signs foreshadow something in a scene in addition to pointing out the signs of the Network and pointing out how the prologue and various scenes provided omens for later scenes in the movie

EDGAR & SIMON’S FLIP CHARTS (- learn there used to be 13 pubs instead of 12 and early names for some of the characters as Edgar and Simon go through their flip charts as they map out the entire story for THE WORLD’S END

 

Three theatrical trailers and three TV spots

TV SAFE VERSION takes a look at the sanitized for TV dialogue version of THE WORLD’S END (in 3 ½ minutes) and it is absolutely hilarious

Five galleries: PRODUCTION PHOTS, ANIMATRONICS & PROSTHETICS, THEATRICAL POSTERS, CONCEPT ART, and HERO PUB SIGNS

Trivia track

 

Audio commentary with writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg

Technical audio commentary with director Edgar Wright and director of photography Bill Pope

Cast commentary with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Paddy Considine

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  THE WORLD’S END is one of my favorite films of 2013 and the blu-ray is also one of my favorites too due to the wealth of great extras.

 

This blu-ray review is ©11-22-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com