Hot Fuzz (2007)

Directed By: Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent, Bill Bailey, Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Tim Barlow, Adam Buxton, Olivia Colman, Kevin Eldon, Alice Lowe, Anne Reid, Rafe Spall, Edward Woodward
Released: 14-02-2007

Since its announcement I had been awaiting this film with baited breath. When they showed the first few clips last year at the London expo I was in the crowd laughing away and jumping up to catch my very own Hot Fuzz t-shirt, elbowing a young girl in the face to get, there will always be casualties where free t-shirts are involved. So despite my excitement I attended the film with a slight degree of apprehension. Most of the films I’ve seen recently which I had been excited about have ended up disappointing me from the purely over hyped point of view. After the huge success of the classic Shaun of the Dead and the monumentally hilarious Spaced, director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg had a big task on their hands. And for the most part they’ve succeeded. The film starts with a hilarious little sketch involving Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy, which ends with Pegg’s Nicolas Angel being reassigned from London Metropolitan service to a quiet little village called Sandford. After these establishing scenes the film moves along at a general pace as we set up the mysterious events which begin occurring within the village.

The array of characters and the ensemble cast including Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine and Edward Woodward along with a collection of British comedy talent ensure the scenes are full of wit, humour and above all hilarious goings on. But it’s Nick Frost, playing the slightly dim witted, action movie aficionados Danny Butterman who steals every scene in which he stars. Starting out by being arrested for drunken driving by PC Angel, he then partners Angel in their daily investigations. He’s a PC obsessed with action films, and houses a DVD collection to make any modern day film fan envious. As with Shaun, and to a lesser extent Spaced, the onscreen chemistry between Pegg and Frost is superior to most modern day love stories. In fact, if their up for it, a homage to those classic, screwball comedies starring the pair as the lovelorn couple would be a perfect next feature.

The difference between Hot Fuzz and its predecessor Shaun of the Dead is that the Shaun script drew heavily from the zombie genre, creating more of a homage to those films which inspired it. Add to this, the concept of Shaun was ripe for humour. With Hot Fuzz they have acknowledged those films which have inspired their decision to create an action film, but have taken the archetypes of the genre and moulded them with a British mentality and context. This works successfully as a rather obscure, slightly Wicker Man-esque action cop thriller but not so much as a homage to the cop thrillers the filmmakers so evidently covet. Despite a few references to various great action flicks, most of which are set up earlier in the film in Angel and Butterman’s constant conversation on action films. Bad Boys and Point Break being two particular favourites of our dim-witted sidekick. Hot Fuzz attempts to be a genuine action thriller and Edgar Wright may have inadvertently put his name on Jerry Bruckheimer’s ‘new directors to work with’ list. It’s a credit to the director and Pegg’s writing collaboration that they have twice now succeeded in creating a genre film which highlights the conventions without ever falling into parody.
The real comedic value of the British bobby is exploited as Angel and Butterman sit around on duty, Butterman badgering Angel with questions about the adventures and exploits he has got up to as a police officer in London, most of which the pair get to live out later in film. It’s this final act where the film really comes alive, throwing caution to the wind and logic out the window. In the village square, Angel and Butterman live out every action movies fan’s wet dream as they take on the villains in what we will know doubt be one of the greatest action scenes of the year. Ironic that a film paying homage to action movies has set the bar in a year when we still have Die Hard 4 and The Bourne Ultimatum to come. As with Shaun, Wright and Pegg were intent on convincing with their take on their genre of choice, and as Shaun proved genuinely scary at moments, Hot Fuzz has genuine adrenalin pumping action sequences to rival those films which inspired them.

Once again the Pegg / Wright partnership proves triumphant but its Nick Frost who steals the show on screen in what will most likely be the best British action movie until we see 007 graces our screens once more. With this collaboration the future for British cinema and British film comedy seems assured regardless of how many formulaic trashy romcoms come our way in the future. I wonder what they’ll do next. The excitement begins here.