Ranking: Edgar Wright's Films

4. The World's End (3.5/5)

It was fairly easy to rank this last, even though it is a film I like and enjoy in many regards, most notably for Simon Pegg's excellent lead performance. He plays Gary King, an alcoholic middle-aged man living in the past of teenage glories, who rounds up a bunch of old mates (Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Martin Freeman and Nick Frost) to go back to their old hometown of Newton Haven to finish off the 'Golden Mile', an unfinished pub crawl from their youth. The film's source of parody is science-fiction but the visual representation of it is not as exhilarating and funny as in previous installments of the Cornetto trilogy.

It's certainly funny in parts, has a few impressive sequences (the teen nightclub scene is particularly well-done) and the ending is quite poignant and powerful thanks to the work of Pegg and Frost. It just doesn't add up to the cohesive brilliance of the previous two films since it is not as confident in its aping of a specific genre, and also diverges a bit too often onto too 'serious' ground.

3. Shaun of the Dead (5/5)

This was difficult to just rank #3. A zombie movie parody, it's often forgetten how much of a cult impact this film had when it came out. It introduced the world to many of Wright's flairs as a visual and comedic director, notably foreshadowing (the scenes where we follow the before/after of a zombie crisis through Shaun's mundane morning routine is a great first example of this; 'you've got red on you'; 'I'm sorry Shaun'), his marvellous cuts and editing (the channel surfing 'news report' of a zombie apocalypse) and just being downright funny. The zombies are well done and do pose quite a threat to our heroes, but this film is really all about the heroes.

Pegg and Frost as Shaun and Ed, are just a wonderful combination, with the former giving his finest onscreen performance as a listless man finding resolve through action, a hilarious deadpan performance but also with moments of tremendous dramatic depth (his farewell to Philip; THAT scene). I also think Frost is never given quite enough credit for managing to make the obnoxious trouble-making Ed so endearing in his own way. The rest of the cast is solid (especially Bill Nighy in a short but rather brilliant cameo), and there's many a great scene in here from the first encounter with the zombies, 'playing zombies' through a crowd of zombies, and the whole final showdown at the Winchester.

2. Scott Pilgrim v.s. the World (5/5)

Give Edgar Wright a considerably bigger budget than he's used to (60M USD) and you'll get this; it's a shame it bombed at the box-office  (though apparently it was quite the hit on DVD so I guess all worked out in the end) since this is a comedy masterpiece. Many like to bash Michael Cera but really you could not have a more perfectly awkward figure to follow into the world of Canadian bassist Scott Pilgrim's world. What I love about this film is how low-key it is at the start, with the sweet relationship between Scott and Knives Chau (an excellent Ellen Wong) the main focus, and Sex Bob-Omb's music being the main source of energy and dynamic.

But the video game elements are always there in every scene (re-watches only cement my admiration for how incredibly well-detailed this film is), and every visual gag is excellent (especially love the 'pee-bar', and the Scott barometer). Then when the Evil-Exes come into play to compete for Scott's newfound love Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), that's where the fun REALLY starts. My personal favourites among them are Chris Evans' obnoxious action movie star Lucas Lee and Brandon Routh's omnipotent vegan Todd Ingram, but really they're all great in their own distinctly comedic way, and the visuals accompanying their fights are fantastic in blending video game elements with other homages, whether it be to film, rock music, or just uprarious lines like 'I'm a little BI-FURIOUS' and Ingram's attempted Villainous Monologue about the cleaning lady. Theres also the final showdown with Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman) which if you watch both sequences of it back-to-back becomes even more impressive.

I haven't even gotten to my favourite parts of the film which are the interactions between Scott and his roommate Wallace Wells (a brilliant Kieran Culkin) who makes the whole 'gay best friend' trope into something truly special, hilarious,  and who most certainly gets all the best lines in the film.

Also; THE SOUNDTRACK.

1. Hot Fuzz (5/5)

As far as I'm concerned one of the greatest comedies ever, period. This entry into the Cornetto trilogy takes all that was great about Shaun of the Dead and takes it up several notches. This is immediately palatable from the very outset, where in 10 minutes the film has established through Wright's kinetic style of direction and editing, the supreme badass police officer Nicholas Angel is, how the Police Inspector can indeed make people 'disappear', and how desolate Sandford is. This film is a pure comedy through and through, and it doesn't hold back on setting up jokes from the very moment Angel sets foot in the hotel and engages in a hilarious back and forth with 'hag' Joyce Cooper (Billie Whitelaw).

Like Scott Pilgrim the film starts off slowly but is never boring for it. It's remarkable how Wright's dynamic style is so well - attuned to the quiet countryside village by how his cuts/editing more customary for a generic cop action film (which is exactly the parody intention here) work so effectively with the simple patrols Angel and his partner, Danny Butterman (Frost, this time round so adorably infectious and enthusiastic, without a mean bone in his body), do. Then as the murders, or 'accidents' as Inspector Frank Butterman (a quite terrific Jim Broadbent) would prefer them to bd called, begin everything begins to go all frenzied. The murders themselves are quite gruesome but the comedic element is never compromised by the fact that through the ridiculousness of it all, Angel approaches the case like any serious cop movie cop would, with the utmost conviction.

The film is one which ups it's octane and energy level repeatedly as the film goes on, most platably felt by its references to the great 'Point Break' and 'Bad Boys 2', but Wright knows always to retain a small human and sweet element to it all through Angel and Butterman's relationship which is always endearing and makes us root for them. They contrast well with the sheer ridiculousness of the Sandford Police Force - the easily irritable Andy's played to perfection by Rafe Spall and Paddy Considine, the randy Doris Thatcher played for all the laughs by Olivia Colman, the mumbling Bob Walker played by Karl Johnson, the two desk sergeants played by Bill Bailey, and the clueless Tony Fisher played by Kevin Eldon.

Then there's the villains. I won't spoil anything for those who haven't seen it which means I can really only talk about the one character who is so obviously the villain from the outset, Simon Skinner, played with deliciously, optimum troll-level malevolence by Timothy Dalton. With that beautiful shit-eating grin and lines like 'I'm a slasher I must be stopped!' he's the most obvious film villain ever. And all the more hilarious for it.

The film erupts into a final act of true magnificent OTT action, taking everything foreshadowed before and turning it into one beautifully directed action extravaganza that is not only funny, but also quite the adrenaline rush to watch.