This time we're going to see this through to the bitter end. Or the lager end.
The dangers of living in the past are ever-present in Edgar Wright's The World's End, in which his co-writer Simon Pegg dons his old Sisters of Mercy T-shirt and gets his old mates back together 23 years after they failed to complete The Golden Mile -- a twelve-pub crawl in their hometown. In the years since his mates have managed to grow up and become productive members of society, so they're understandably reluctant to give it another go, but as the oft-repeated refrain goes, there's no point in arguing with him.
Joining Pegg are uptight real estate agent Martin Freeman, soulful property developer Paddy Considine, weedy car salesman Eddie Marsan, and teetotaling corporate lawyer Nick Frost, who was Pegg's wing man until they had a falling out, the details of which are teased out over the course of the film. Regardless, he stays with Pegg from The First Post to The World's End -- and all of the pubs in between -- especially when it becomes apparent that there's something seriously out of whack about Newton Haven. What that something is will have already been spoiled for you if you've seen the most recent trailer, but I wouldn't dream of spilling the beans here. Besides, what's really important are the character interactions, which feel genuine, and how the group reacts, individually and collectively, to the obstacles they encounter along the way. (Suffice it to say, Pegg is bound and determined to get to The World's End, even if it kills him.)
Since Wright and Pegg's previous collaboration, 2007's Hot Fuzz, was rather light in the romance department, it's rather fitting that Pegg is given a lust object in the form of Freeman's younger sister (Rosamund Pike), who is also Considine's long-harbored crush. And to follow that film's casting of former Bond Timothy Dalton in a supporting role, this one features Pierce Brosnan, his successor in the franchise, as the boys' old teacher. Should Sean Connery (who, incidentally, turns 83 today) ever decide to come out of retirement, he would do well to give the lads a call so his last screen appearance doesn't turn out to be in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Just about anything would be better than that.