Micro Movie Review: Hot Fuzz
May 4, 2007 | Posted by: Jared
Hot Fuzz
Rogue Pictures
3 stars
The team that brought you Shaun of the Dead, writer/actor Simon Pegg and writer/director Edgar Wright, returns with Hot Fuzz, another genre sendup that turns the Hollywood buddy-cop adventure on its ear. Hot Fuzz is the story of Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), London police officer of superior skill. Angel’s policing ability is so far above that of his colleagues and superiors that they arrange for him to be promoted to sergeant and transferred to the sleepy, crime-free village of Sandford. Sergeant Angel is partnered with PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), a fan of overblown Hollywood action films, and the two investigate a suspicious string of accidental deaths.
Is Hot Fuzz worth your time?
Hot Fuzz is a great experience from beginning to end. Much like the genre-mixing Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz is not afraid to break the boundaries of what you expect an action film to be. It’s sometimes a comedy, sometimes an action film, and occasionally a grisly horror film, but it seems to avoid the pitfalls of each genre. Just when you think you know how the film is going to deal with a particular situation, it takes it in a new and interesting direction, all while never taking itself too seriously.
The characters are also well-crafted. They are simultaneously familiar and unique; you’ve seen these types before, but not quite in this way. These are American character stereotypes filtered through British comic sensibilities and given new life with excellent writing.
Hot Fuzz is just pure fun to watch. The ending is a bit predictable, but it hardly matters at that point; there are too many laughs to be had over the course of the film for this one lapse to sully the experience.