6. Less Pop-Culture References
One of the most starkly different aspects of The World's End is how it refuses to be reliant on pop-culture references in the same way as the two prior films; if Shaun of the Dead was full of video game and zombie film references, and Hot Fuzz gleefully lampooned the likes of Point Break and Bad Boys 2, The World's End is far more straight-up with its concept and leans less on nostalgia for classic entertainment properties. This will be to the disappointment of some, but given the movie's more mature, bleak tone, it makes sense, and after two films that milked that well nicely, perhaps Edgar Wright and Pegg fancied stretching themselves a little more this time around. Still, the script feels far from empty or malnourished even as it dials back the name-dropping; if anything, it is in some ways a more impressive achievement, and as mentioned above, the narrative, while somewhat indebted to the alien/robot invasion genre, flies off in some unexpected directions.