Fans of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz rejoice, the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy is complete and it’s all you ever dreamed it would be.

For those who don’t know, the Cornetto Trilogy is a series of movies written by Simon Pegg and directed by Edgar Wright. The three films in the trilogy are Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and now, finally, The World’s End. All of the films have completely different story lines and characters; the only factors that link them are reoccurring actors, references between films and a central theme of individuality versus conformity.

The curtain opens on Gary King (played by Simon Pegg), a man falling hard into middle-age territory while desperately clinging on to as much of his past that he can. His fondest memory, and also his biggest regret, revolves around one fateful night twenty years ago.

It was the last day of senior year, June 22, 1990. Gary and his four best friends Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) decided to embark on the Golden Mile, an epic pub crawl consisting of twelve pubs across the small town of Newton Haven. (Remember, the legal drinking age in the United Kingdom is 18, so this is all perfectly fine, even if very irresponsible.) That night, however, complications arose and the five friends never ended up making it all the way to the final bar: The World’s End.

Invigorated by the idea that finally completing the Golden Mile will give him the sense of closure he longs for, Gary sets off to reunite his old high school crew and return to their hometown in order to finish what they started. He eventually succeeds in dragging the boys back to Newton Haven, but once they are back in their old stomping grounds, it becomes quite obvious that a lot has changed since they have left.

Before long, what began as a night filled with familiar faces, such as Oliver’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike), and fond memories becomes a fight for their lives as the five uncover a sinister society of alien robots that have taken over the town in their absence. These alien invaders that have replaced a majority of the townsfolk are nicknamed “Blanks” by Steven early on in the night.

From that point on, the story takes off, following the five companions and Sam as they clash with endless waves of Blanks and fight for the future of planet Earth, all while trying to make it to The World’s End.

One of the few things I was worried about before I saw this movie was the plot itself. The trailer made it very clear that “the only way to survive the night, is to make it to The World’s End,” but I didn’t really see why that was the case at first. It seemed to me as though once the gang had discovered the Blanks, the only logical thing to do would be to turn around and get out of town as quickly as possible.

There is never really a true reason why Gary and friends continue on the pub crawl after the robotic alien cat is out of the bag. Their reason for continuing the twelve-pub binge changes over time. For a while they keep going because they all know they’re too drunk to drive back to London, then for a while they continue because they think backing out and trying to leave would cause the Blanks to become suspicious and eventually their only reason to carry on is because none of them can think of anything better to do. It’s irresponsible and illogical reasoning, I know, but that’s just the kind of movie this is.

The performances from the entire cast is perfect. Martin Freeman plays a much bigger role this time around, as he was only given a short cameo in Shaun of the Dead and a handful of lines in Hot Fuzz. Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike fit in with the rest seamlessly. The dialogue between the five guys and Sam feels natural and the interaction between characters using body language showcases some of the best on-screen chemistry I’ve ever seen. Bill Nighy also returns with the rest of the Cornetto regulars, but this time around he is only used as a voice-over.

It’s obvious that Wright has poured everything he’s got into this movie. It draws a lot from the previous two Cornetto films he’s directed. Camera techniques, scene transitions and fight sequence styles are extremely reminiscent from that of Hot Fuzz. The World’s End also takes a page out of Shaun of the Dead’s book by foreshadowing all major plot points for the entire film within 20 minutes from the opening credits.

Surprisingly, it also takes a bit from Wright’s most recent live-action project, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Similar to the way that all seven “evil exes” from Scott Pilgrim number off on screen (evil ex number two has a “2” drawn on the side of his neck and the night club in which Scott Pilgrim fights the fourth evil ex has a giant number four in front of it), all twelve of the pubs that the five cohorts come across number off as well.

Of course no movie is perfect, but The World’s End definitely comes close. It’s hilarious, the fight scenes are brilliantly orchestrated and it is surprisingly sincere and meaningful given the subject matter.

One of the things I love most about Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz is the fact that they are completely interchangeable. You can watch these two movies in any order you want and it will still feel as though the best jokes originated in whichever one you watched first and are merely referenced in the second one you see. Even though Shaun of the Dead came out three years prior, the references found in Hot Fuzz fit so perfectly into the dialogue that the jokes could have originated from either one.

This is not the case when it comes to The World’s End, however. Famous lines that are said in the first two movies like “Want anything from the shop?” and “What’s the matter? Never taken a shortcut before?” are never said in this installment. The jokes are still there, but only as loose references. The first two films may be interchangeable, but The World’s End is definitely meant to be seen last.

So the question still stands. Is The World’s End the best Cornetto movie so far?

Honestly, there really is not a good answer to that question. Trying to compare the three films is like comparing apples to oranges to bananas. One is about zombies, another is about policemen and the third is about aliens. Personally, Shaun of the Dead has always been my favorite, but I have a sneaking suspicion that subsequent viewings of The World’s End could make it my new favorite.

There were a few things with the plot that I had to take with a grain of salt. I don’t want to give anything away, but the end of the movie goes in a direction that I definitely did not expect. That being said, the more I think about it the more I learn to appreciate the ending. Though it may not be how I imagined The World’s End would end, it definitely helps sum up the Cornetto Trilogy as a whole in a satisfying way.

The World’s End is smart, funny, spontaneous, thoughtful and lives up to every expectation set forth in Wright’s previous works. Here’s to hoping that Pegg, Frost and Wright continue to collaborate in the future.

It’s a bittersweet feeling knowing that after almost a decade the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy has finally come to an end. But it was a glorious end and a fitting conclusion. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.