Hot Fuzz (2007)
The Cast
Simon Pegg ... Sergeant Nicholas Angel
Nick Frost ... PC Danny Butterman
Martin Freeman ... Met Sergeant
Bill Nighy ... Metropolitan Chief Inspector Kenneth
Timothy Dalton ... Simon Skinner
Jim Broadbent ... Inspector Frank Butterman
Paddy Considine ... DS Andy Wainwright
Rafe Spall ... DC Andy Cartwright
Stephen Merchant ... Peter Ian Staker
Cate Blanchett ... Jeanine
Steve Coogan ... Metropolitan Police Inspector
Peter Jackson ... Santa
It's no secet that I'm a huge fan of director Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead movie. In my opinion it was a brilliant speciman of the zombie genre, filmed in a highly comedic fashion that felt more real than any "scary" zombie movie ever did, mostly because it felt more realistic. I say this of course, without any zombie-fighting experience on my resume. Shaun just seemed to be an accurate depiction of how real people would handle a completely unreal and unbelievable situation in their lives. Hot Fuzz expands on many of those ideals, but instead of poking fun at the zombie movie genre, it pays tribute to big budget dumb Hollywood action movies in a much more believable fashion than say, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1.
Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is a highly skilled and determined London police officer, so effective as a cop that he makes the rest of the officers look bad in comparison. So it comes as a shock that after returning from a work-related injury, Angel is not rewarded with a promotion but a transfer to Sandford, a small countryside village with no real crime problems. Angel's first night in town is a cultural shock not just to him but the people of Sandford. Many casual crimes that were in the past overlooked in the idea of just keeping everyone calm are immediately taken care of by Angel, much to the dismay of the township and Angel's new co-workers. Soon after that, a rash of outrageous murders take place that the rest of the police force... sorry, police "service" attempt to turn a blind eye to, and it becomes patently obvious to Angel that something is amiss in Sandford.
Hot Fuzz reunites Shaun stars Pegg and Nick Frost with director Wright, based off of Pegg and Wright's screenplay. For those people not fortunate enough to have seen the awesomeness that is Shaun of the Dead, this means the movie retains a very British-style of humour which may not appeal to some viewers. However it's that very British-style which makes Hot Fuzz so obscenely awesome, mostly just because you don't expect high levels of ultraviolence out of such a seemingly laid-back culture of people. The story combines the over-the-top action, the British culture and ridiculous twist endings into one of the most entertaining movies I've watched in awhile.
Sadly some of the jokes are a little off target, not to mention almost too smart for audiences nowadays. I was the only one in the theater laughing at the brilliant Chinatown reference, but I'm not entirely sure if that's just because it was so subtle. Hot Fuzz is as close to perfection as you can expect in an action movie these days, combining entertaining characters with a funny story and amazing action sequences. I recommend seeing this movie over any of the pre-determined sequel blockbusters of this summer, simply because it's far more original than any of those movies will be and there's far less of a chance of you being let down after it's all over.
4.5 / 5