Hermione with an axe!!

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2013)

THIS IS THE END has many things to recommend it. There's the awesome special effects, which show characters crashing into the pit of hell. There's the poignantly shown rituals of male bonding, even in the face of all-but-certain doom. There's the inevitable bad apple in the bunch, capable of swiping the last Milky Way bar left in the city. There's the beheaded guy, whose soccer abilities recall the final scene of HOSTEL 2. There are the invaluable tips for surviving during a Rapture event, which spell out the nitty-gritty details with more authority than any of the movies in the LEFT BEHIND series. There is the ability to capture the atmosphere of a Rapture, which was barely scratched in that otherwise compelling flick, RED STATE. There is the study of the psychological underpinnings of survival rationing, taken much further than in Hitchcock's WWII classic, LIFEBOAT. There are the believable characterizations offered by James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, and the rest of the all-star cast all playing themselves--you just KNOW this is how these people would act during an ACTUAL Rapture event! But--most of all--there's Emma Watson, yup--Hermione herself!--wielding an axe!!