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Monday, September 23, 2013

The World's End Discussion, Part 4

On September 8, Dave, Jeff, and Megan got together to talk about the latest Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost venture, The World's End, based on some notes from Cat. (So far she hasn't given permission to publish those notes, so for now you'll have to reconstruct them for yourself based on our references to them and deductive reasoning.) This is the thrilling conclusion of that discussion.

Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.



MR
Ok, so finally, the ending!

Dave
Loved it.

MR
I also loved it, except for the very very end where they show what Gary is doing.
What actually is he doing? Straight up murdering people? I didn't get that.

JK
Yeah, I agree with you Megan.
I loved that he had a sword though.

Dave
I loved that there wasn't a magic "win" button that made everything okay again.

MR
I agree. Like Peter and Oliver are still blanks in the end, they don't magically come back to themselves.

Dave
And the world is messed up.

JK
Did either of you wonder for a bit if Gary was simply high and was imagining the blue bloods? Then I was wondering if he had drugged all of his friends too and they were seeing it.

MR
I don't think I ever doubted that what they were seeing was real.

Dave
Yeah the movie becomes a whole lot darker if they are all mass murderers.

MR
Another side note: I looooooved the creepy lights coming out of the blanks' faces. omg so good.

JK
That made for some cool scenes.

Dave
Yep, great effect.
In the end Gary got his friends back. He gets his glory days back, but also finally gets to grow up as a person and move onto new things. And the ending also shows the duality of humanity. You have the bigoted assholes, and the compassionate folks who believe in equality.

MR
But he isn't with his friends, is he? And I'm not sure that killing bigots is ... a great route to take.
Everything about the ending worked for me except him.

Dave
Without the network, the blanks have the opportunity to become real humans. So Gary and his group are on a quest to make the world a better place.
Yeah it was a bit of a stretch.

JK
Did Gary move on to new things? Weren't those other four guys he was with the kids that they beat up at the beginning? If they were, then he was fitting himself into another group in a similar role.

Dave
No it was the young version of their crew.
Andy, Oliver, Peter, and Steve.

MR
I think it made sense that he would still not really be doing what everyone else is, in terms of survival, but to have him just wandering around killing dudes seems.. so weird.

Dave
Yeah it was a little heavy handed.

MR
It seems like a sort of wish fulfillment thing (does he tell the guidance counsellor at the beginning that he just wants to "have fun" or something? I can't remember exactly what he says), except that it's presented in a strange way.

Dave
I like that he is roaming around with his old crew, but the extreme violence aspect is a bit much.

JK
It seemed like they had to end off on some kind of explosive high note and Gary was the best one to do that. But yes, it did seem somewhat out of place.

MR
Like going in and trashing the place? I'd take that.
Even like burning it down or something, which would be more theatrical.

Dave
Well I guess they were expecting the audience to buy into the violent post apocalyptic world that we all know from so many other sources.
But it wasn't really set up in this film.

MR
He just didn't really seem like a killer to me, I think?

Dave
Yeah, it took a pretty big jump, expecting the audience to fill in the gaps.

JK
Yeah, he was there for a good time, not to slay people. Unless he considered that a good time.

Dave
Well if you look at the end as if it was set in Mad Max, then it makes more sense.
I am guessing they wanted the audience to make that sort of jump.

JK
Everyone else seemed to be trying to rebuild, but Gary was out there being wild.

Dave
It’s what Gary does.

MR
I suppose. It does have some cues to that effect, like these guys in the bar he goes into are like neoneo Nazis.

JK
He seemed to have found a purpose in life again.

Dave
Yeah, killing Nazis!
Always a good cause, haha.

JK
Woot!

MR
I dunno if you guys have seen X-Men First Class, but I 100% believe and am on board with Magneto Nazi Hunter at the beginning of that movie, but putting Gary in that position at the end of this movie didn't work.

Dave
I know Cat didn't like the musketeer moment, but I got a kick out of it.
They played with the musketeer motif throughout the movie, and I thought it worked well at the end.
You have the three survivors meeting up, very drunk, surviving the end of the world, crazy with adrenaline. I think it was natural that they would laugh about that!

JK
Did anyone catch how Gary said that the five musketeers works because if two die, you still have three? That is precisely what happened with Oliver and Peter.

MR
Apparently I missed everything musketeer-related in the movie because I have no clue what you're talking about.
I do sort of remember the five musketeers comment because of that old Albert the Fifth Musketeer cartoon.
Other ending thoughts? I think I already went into mine above.
I just really like having my expectations subverted.
I was really hoping that Oliver and Peter would come back to life (mostly because I just love Martin Freeman and can't separate actors from their roles very well), but I was so happy when they didn't.

Dave
Yeah I like that they defeated the aliens but that there was a heavy cost to pay. I like that the blanks got a chance to be real people.

MR
And I loved that their actions brought on the end of the world (as we know it).. that never happens.

Dave
I like that Sam and Steve shacked up, in a rather nice shack.

MR
I wanted to know how they scored that shack. It was super nice.

Dave
Built it, Steve was a home builder, remember. Started his own business.

MR
Yeah, I was just about to say that I remembered him in a hard hat at some point. But building a shack with your own hands is a bit different!

Dave
He would still have the knowledge.

MR
I also liked Oliver's ball head.
And the eyes on it.

JK
Reminded me a bit of Wilson from Castaway.

MR
Me too.
Any other overall thoughts on the movie? What would you rate it on the letter grade scale?

Dave
A for awesome. It had good cinematography, good effects, good acting, good story, and was overall really fun to watch.

JK
A- , I think. It didn't totally blow my mind apart like Shawshank Redemption or The Sixth Sense, but it made me think and I laughed a lot.

MR
I'll go with A-.. the weirdness at the end didn't put a good button on things for me, and like Jeff I didn't have my mind completely blown.. but while not as jam-packed with amazing as Hot Fuzz, everything in this was well done, I laughed multiple times.
I wonder if maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the whole body-snatcher genre and ended up missing some of the jokes?
Good show all around in any case!

Dave
Yep. Solid, enjoyable entertainment!

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