The World's End review

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's sci-fi comedy finds hilarity in booze and body snatching

An epic pub crawl becomes a battle against body-stealing aliens in this third and final part of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's unofficial 'Three Colours Cornetto' trilogy.

Like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz before it, The World's End packs in plenty of gags and film homages (Invasion of the Body Snatchers and They Live loom large throughout) as it plays around with genre conventions. It also shows a newfound maturity in storytelling, finding a dark emotional core in the arrested adolescence of Pegg's leading man and the middle-age angst of his cohorts. Meanwhile, Wright continues to cement his place as one of the most inventive and skillful action directors around – we can't wait to see what he does when he gets the chance to play around in the Marvel universe with 2015's Ant-Man.

Picture: The World's End makes its Blu-ray debut with an authentically film-like image. While this means that it doesn't always look as sharp as some of Hollywood's glossier all-digital efforts, the disc's visuals are still exceedingly well resolved with plenty of fine detail and intricate textures on show in medium shots and close-ups.

Black levels also impress, despite a smattering of noise in a couple of sequences. And although colours aren't particularly pronounced, there are occasional flashes of vibrancy that come from the blue blood of the 'blanks' and the orange tones that dominate the film's explosive climax.
Picture rating: 4/5

Audio: Thanks to the sci-fi trappings that come to dominate the film's second half, this DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix offers more of a multichannel punch than the usual comedy soundtrack. There's plenty of heft to the mix's low-end and it's frequently deployed to dramatic effect. Your surround speakers will also get quite a workout as well, thanks to a healthy does of panning and spot effects that make for an enjoyably three-dimensional audio experience.
Audio rating: 4.5/5

Extras: Kicking things off are three commentaries. The first teams Pegg and Wright, the second Wright and director of photography Bill Pope, and the third finds Pegg joining Nick Frost and Paddy Considine. If none of those take your fancy, you can always opt to watch the film with picture-in-picture storyboards or a subtitle trivia track.

Then there's a 48-minute Making of…, a 28-minute documentary about stunts and FX, five production featurettes, animatics, hair and makeup tests, rehearsal footage, stunt tapes and a VFX breakdown.

On top of that there's also a deleted scene, outtakes, alternate edits, a music video, four trailers, four TV spots, five photo galleries, a compilation of alternate 'TV Safe' footage and a Signs & Omens featurette. This last is one of our favourites, as it reveals the various hidden gags and Easter Eggs littered throughout the movie.
Extras rating: 5/5

We say: Impressive AV credentials and a surfeit of superior extras make Wright and Pegg's latest BD a must for fans

The World’s End, Universal Pictures, All-region BD, £25 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 4.5/5

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