Hot Fuzz (15)
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy
From the imaginations of director Edgar Wright, and co-writer Simon Pegg, the genius behind “Shaun of the Dead”, comes Hot Fuzz. If you can imagine “Naked Gun” (possibly even Dragnet), with a mix of “League Of Gentleman” and “The Archers”, you’ll be halfway to understanding what to some is seen as a “homage” to police action movies, whereas others think it’s purely a parody.
Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, the London super-cop who is so good at doing his job his superiors decide to take action by “promoting him” to the rank of sergeant in the West Country village of Sanford, so that their own laziness or inability to do the job isn’t highlighted by Angel’s outstanding record.
Once he arrives in this “idyllic” village he immediately (and obsessively) sets out to clean it up and uphold the law to the very letter, including a chance encounter with his new “partner”, Danny (played by Frost). Danny is something of an underachiever with his heart in the right place, but with the arrival of “Angel”, is inspired to “try harder”. An instant fall guy is presented in the form of Timothy Dalton’s character, Skinner, who relishes the chance to ham it up.
However not is all as it seems in the sedate village, and a spate of “accidents” take place with instant suspicions falling on Dalton’s supermarket boss character, and eventually his “Lurch” type helper…”YARP”. We won’t give anything more away of the storyline, that’ll be for you to discover for yourself.
The question remains, is it any good? Truthfully? Well, it is good, but it’s not fantastic. It will most certainly entertain you and have you laughing, but it won’t be as memorable as say, a Monty Python film. I also found Wright’s whiplash style (so effectively used on the small screen such as “Spaced”) occasionally caused the film to lose its energy and momentum.
Having said that, the film is well shot, the acting is spot on (with some great cameo roles from the likes of Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy), and the soundtrack is just right. Towards the end of the film it does drag a little, which is to be expected as it has three endings (you’ll see what we mean if you watch it yourself), but all in all, a good film worth seeing.
..and one final note, our keen eyed film clever clogs, Bratpack spotted the following...
As Danny (Nick Frost)is reading the label for the "Supercop" DVD in the store and then sees Nick (Simon Pegg) running after a suspect, he drops the DVD back into the bin. If you quickly look at the other DVDs surrounding it, you'll see a copy of "Shaun Of The Dead", but the title has been changed to "Zombies Party".
A big thank you again to the Odeon Cinema at Freemans Common
