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Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) has a problem. With an arrest record 400% higher than his colleagues in London’s Metropolitan Police Force, he’s just too good at his job. To keep him showing up rest of the force, his superiors transfer him to Sandford, a tiny village with the lowest crime rate in the country. At first Angel is bored to tears, despite the best efforts of his excitable new partner Danny (Nick Frost). But when people begin dying in bizarre accidents, he starts to suspect that all might not be well in this idyllic village.
What we thought of it:
When you say “action-comedy” most of us immediately think of Jerry Bruckheimer or Joel Silver films like Bad Boys or Lethal Weapon. All those explosions and car chases, all that testosterone and charming vulgarity – it’s about as American as a genre can get. So to watch a group of English filmmakers paying homage to these films is both delightful and disconcerting.
And that’s kind of the point. After the runaway success of Shaun of the Dead, their witty homage/parody of George A Romero’s zombie films, it was only a matter of time before Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright got their teeth into another of Hollywood’s axioms. And, as with their first film, they’ve put a uniquely English spin on the proceedings, mixing dry wit and genteel irony with action movie hustle-bustle.
Despite what’s beneath the movie’s bonnet, it doesn’t look English. Its big, bright, heavily saturated visuals are far more Face Off than Notting Hill, full of whip crack editing and slow motion gun battles. But these glossy good looks are also a symptom of the film’s somewhat problematic internal tension – it starts out making fun of action films, an ends up bowing before their icons.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to have your cake an eat it. Both aspects are the film are enjoyable enough, but for those who enjoy the Monty-Python-esque absurdity, the John Woo style gunfights are just a side-show. There are still some delicious moments of wit in amongst the guns-n-ammo finale, but they are few and far between.
The transition between parody and homage might not have been so obvious if the film had been tightened up a little. It spends too long on the build-up, and once the high action sequences have begun, it tends to wallow in them a little. This is a 90-minute story – not a two hour one. Still, we might forgive Pegg and Wright this folly. Their film is long because it is stuffed full of so many cool ideas, from references to classic films like The Omen to caricatures of the idyllic English village.
Hot Fuzz is not for everyone – it’s angular, knowing style might be annoying to people in search of a straight-up-and-down English comedy or a pure-blood action film. It’s also a lot more gory than the glossy exterior might suggest and not at all suitable for kids. But for anyone who enjoys watching movie icons torn down, rearranged and then lovingly restored, this is truly something special.
- Alistair Fairweather
