10 Reasons Why The World's End Is Secretly The Best Of The Cornetto Trilogy

8. Gary King

Central character and virtual antagonist Gary King remains the most divisive element of The World's End, though it's really the actor behind the character that's the source of the derision. It's hardly unusual for a film from within the notoriously self-deprecating genre of British comedy to centre around an unlikeable lead, and were it anyone other than traditionally-matey Simon Pegg in the role, it's likely the character would have been slightly more readily accepted. Either way, it's difficult to deny that King is one of the most complex and layered characters Pegg has ever played, and unquestionably so among his Cornetto trilogy-triplets. The man is introduced as an irritating twerp €“ the bane of his former school friends, each of whom follow him to Newton Haven with extreme reluctance. Throughout the course of the crawl, the layers of the character are gradually peeled away very much against his wishes until the root of his perpetual standoffishness is eventually revealed €“ the pub crawl was the all-too-early high point of King's life and he masks depression, alcoholism and drug abuse by trying to relive it. It's masterful writing, and while King's journey from unfocused loser to unlikely hero echoes that of Shaun, the former is (forgive me) little more than Pegg playing himself. King is a true creation, more complex, more troubled and with lines like "A man of your legendary prowess drinking ****ing rain" and "Why don't you get back in your rocket and **** off back to Legoland," funnier than the characters that paved the way for him.