I’ve tried to dismiss Tub from my mind, so I didn’t remember how many similarities there were. Just goes to show that if two different people make the same movie, you’ll wind up with two very different movies, and one can be a whole lot better than the other.
And very, very occasionally, you’re lucky enough get two movies that are great for different reasons. “Shaun of the Dead” and “Zombieland” being the best example, I think.
Just got back from this, didn’t know anything about the movie at all, had no idea what I was going into, and I LOVED it! I thought that the very end was a bit preachy and moral-of-the-story-ish, but the very very end with him returning to a pub and ordering water was brilliant.
I have only seen most of Shaun of the Dead, and never even heard of Hot Fuzz before tonight, but World’s End was fantastic and greatly deserving of the 90% it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes. Just all around a really worthy film. Mindless and fun, but also touching without being cliche.
I’m going to have to watch it a few more times, but so far it’s my least favorite of the trilogy. I felt like it tried to meld too many disparate things together and it didn’t really work.
First of all, I felt it was much more dramatic than the other movies. Gary’s story is actually rather poignant, and the revelation of just what kind of support group he was in at the beginning really underlines that. And for me, that just didn’t go well with in-jokes, Jackie Chan fights, and slapstick villains. Where Shaun blended rom-com and character development seamlessly with zombie action homage, and Hot Fuzz started out as a Creepy Little Town/Wicker Man story and ended with cop action porn in a delightful resolution, I just couldn’t suspend disbelief over the subject and tone changes in this one.
Also, while I enjoyed The Network’s final, frustrated statement, I felt like the movie was trying to deliver some message about childhood, growing up, dependence, and conformity, but it just couldn’t quite figure out what the message actually was.
Finally, this is kind of silly, but are the blanks incredibly tough and strong, or ridiculously fragile? It seemed to change from moment to moment.
Only the English would make killer robots out of porcelain.
I think Hot Fuzz was definitely the best of the three, although I enjoyed The World’s End right up until it got preachy at the end.
I thought the Gary King character was quite easy to relate to - didn’t everyone have a wacky mate (or mate of a mate) in high school that everyone knew was never going to get his shit together and move on?
It all makes sense now! 
+1. Needed to see it and glad I did, but kinda meh, esp at the end.
But, man, Rosamund Pike is simply delicious. I never like it when she gets cast as the icy villain Brit - I like her better as the slightly uptight but stunningly gorgeous Brit. And, of course, her name is Rosamund. “We’ll always have Disabled’s” - 
This whole review is full of spoilers, so don’t read if that’s a thing for you:
I thought it was terrible. I LOVED Shaun and like Fuzz, but I felt this disapointed on several levels.
First, I think the genre twist failed. The dramatic man-child who needs to grow up angle was great. I would have loved watching a pub crawl movie as old demons were drawn out and excorcised (sp) as the boys got drunker and drunker. The abrupt twist turns the movie from that dramatic angle and completely undercuts any dramatic impact.
Second, the blank ‘message’ is pretty weak. The arguments for and against conformity are obvious and not presented well.
Third, the climax to this action frenzy is a ten minute conversation with a lightbulb. What a letdown.
Fourth, the resolution to the key dramatic tension between the two leads is a quick flashback and then total forgiveness. Another letdown.
Fail.
Steampunk?
It was okay. It took a good 30 minutes to get going (pointed out to me: coinciding with Frost’s character not being a damn teetotaler). I remind myself that I did not like Hot Fuzz as much as Shaun on the first watch (now love it), so I’ll have to watch again.
The “fuck it” part was a great line, but that whole part was very clichéd. The friend’s ages didn’t really match as high school friends (I won’t check Wikipedia). The bully seemed especially young, although he was the age that they got his DNA at.
Hot Tub Time Machine was stupid and I loved it. I do not see many parallels from that link (reaching for straws), for one Lou annoyed his friends, but didn’t have the layer of depression and revulsion that Gary gave his friends.
Weakest of the three. I agree with every one of MovieMogul’s criticisms. Not a terrible movie, but not one I have any interest in revisiting (something I do regularly with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
It was amusing, but not a patch on Shaun or Fuzz.
Just saw it yesterday on DVD. It was shite. Definitely the worst of the trilogy. And this was one of the big things that bothered me. They’re all supposed to be early 40s, but not a single one looked it. But when I looked it up, all of them are actually between 41 and 45. So I guess English blokes just age differently.
The only person playing their wrong age was Rosamund Pike. She had just turned 40 in the film, but was only 33 during filming.