The World's End, the Final Flavor in Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy. Flavor, Beer.

But that particular flavor can be tasted in all three films in the Three Flavors trilogy, with other spirits spritzed throughout.  Each of them, from Shaun of the Dead forward, lays out the spread.  The details differ greatly, both in the genre mixed as well as the personal hangups laid out.  Edgar Wright's films are genre romps, there is no doubt.  But those are just the stages set.  When it comes down to it, he's a keen observer of the human condition and uses the magical stages of the fantastical genres to look into the human soul as only they can.

Our current subject, The World's End, sets this particular stage, with a man  reminiscing about what he sees as good times past, his youth when he was the cock of the walk, if he does say so himself.  Gary King (Simon Pegg) is sitting in an encounter group sharing with an audience is regret upon recounting a night where he and his crew attempted the Golden Mile, a pub crawl that saw them visiting twelve pubs, having a pint at each.  Things went south.  So, Gary wants to get the band back together twenty years later and have another go at it.  From the glimpses we see in Gary's life, he's manipulative, inconsiderate and not very nice.  He has temper issues, substance abuse issues, some darker events are alluded to and he is stuck in the past.  His friends have moved on and they aren't either glad to see him when he comes waltzing back into their lives to manipulate/guilt them into returning to their small British town.  They've gotten on with their lives and have left him behind.  Especially his former best friend, Andy Knightly (Nick Frost) who, at first glance, wants to send him right back out he door he came through.  But Gary is persistent and the five are back together to try to recapture lost youth.

But they discover something else entirely.  This is not the town they left.

Some have said this may be the closet we see to Mr. Wright directing an episode of Doctor Who.

They may be right.  But the spooky stuff going on in small town England are the secondary show to the inner journey of our heroes.  As they quaff spirits and their psyches loosen up and all the debris starts shaking loose, they begin to confront each other and their issues more openly.  When the alienesque shenanigans start up, that just gets them back to the essentials when the beer and issues take a back seat to survival.

Funny how imminent death can sometimes clarify and simplify things.

This is, in many ways a darker, sadder, more layered film, compared to the previous editions in the trilogy.  The visual action joke hooks are there, but they are almost sad nods.  Lightening the mood briefly for those who can recognize what they are, before we get back to the shadows in which we now trod.

The World's End, not always a "good time".  But a great film that is ultimately about growing up and facing life squarely.  And being better for it.