Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine
Country: United Kingdom / United States / France
Rating: R
Run Time: 121 minutes
In today's cinematic world, cop comedies like The Heat (2013) and Ride Along (2014) have found a way to dominate the box office. In my opinion, both of these films are lazy excuses for action comedy. Their action scenes are lame and forgetful and their comedy is completely reliant upon how many times Melissa McCarthy or Kevin Hart can say the "f" word. If this is where our action comedies are heading towards than count me out.
I think that Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz (2007) is the prime example of how to make an excellent cop comedy filled with hilarious laughs and exciting gun play. While I don't normally review or even watch comedies (I like bleak and serious films, sue me), Wright's films are a must for any cinema buff. Arguably one of the most inventive directors working today, Wright crafts action comedies like nobody else. Every frame and second of Hot Fuzz is filled to the brim with creativity that The Heat and Ride Along don't contain in a single millisecond.
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| "Mornin' boys!" |
Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the best cop in London. He's so good that his own superiors choose to relocate him to another town. His feats as a cop have made them all look so bad that they'd all prefer if he just left London altogether. When Angel relocates to the small village of Sandford, grisly deaths begin to occur all over town. While everyone else thinks that each death is an accident, Angel thinks that the deaths are all orchestrated murders. As Angel investigates the case, he finds out far more than what he bargained for.
Hot Fuzz is so many great things. It's an excellent mystery, a hilarious comedy, a solid action film, and a spot on lampooning of action cinema. The film is absolutely one of the best action/cop comedies ever made. It is also my favorite of Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End). While one could argue that you could technically count the other two films as action films since they contain scenes of people fighting zombies and robot aliens, Hot Fuzz falls the closet in line with the old fashioned action films of the 80's and 90's.
Hot Fuzz is one of the funnest comedies in recent years. Wright is a true comedic genius. He knows how to set up jokes early on in the picture in order to deliver great pay offs later. One thing I noticed this go around of the film were the deeply intricate jokes that only one with a keen eye would catch. For example: a character named Tim Messenger works for the newspaper. The fact that his last name is Messenger is already a joke because he has a message to tell Angel and writes for the newspaper.
When Angel watches Messenger at a town fair, he sees Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton) managing a booth called "Whack The Rat." This is ironic because Messenger apparently has some news on the shady murders in town and is technically a "rat" for unearthing him. Therefore, his death a few moments later makes sense because Wright foreshadows it by showing Skinner shout "Whack the Rat" while staring at Messenger. Great comedic genius like this peppers the entirety of Hot Fuzz.
Action fans will also love Hot Fuzz because it features some great jokes about action cinema and features some excellent action of its own. Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) is a lousy cop but a huge action cinema fan. He constantly bugs Angel with questions about action movies and tells Angel that his two favorite action films are Michael Bay's Bad Boys 2 (2003) and Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (1991). Hot Fuzz even goes on to duplicate lines and moments from these action films within its own narrative and makes for some hilarious jokes.
I love how Butterman asks Angel if he has ever performed various action stereotypes within his own line of work: shooting a gun while driving in a car chase, leaping through the air while firing two pistols, and delivering witty one liners. And yet, all of these things happen in the film's big finale and all make for great laughs. Action fans will get a real kick out of seeing some of their favorite action stereotypes appear in such an awesome yet funny manner.
Wright's editing and directing style is some of the most energetic and creative in comedy today. He incorporates many quick and stylistic cuts throughout his films. I think that this style of editing works great for comedy and helps to make an otherwise boring film more interesting. Unlike boring American comedies like The Heat and Ride Along, Hot Fuzz takes every opportunity to make each scene either funny or artistically creative.
However, I think Wright goes a little over board with his editing style during the film's big action finale. While I think its funny that Wright shows a character pump a shotgun from four different angles for a laugh, his rapid style of cutting and love of close ups ruins the action itself. The big action finale is shot from so many angles and cuts so many times that one may become nauseated or confused from it all.
During the big finale, Angel has a night stick fight with a man using a sword. This melee fight is shot and edited so poorly, that it's nearly impossible to make out the fight scene. I know that Wright's style is energetic and exciting, but he needed to pull the camera back a bit during the action scenes so that we as an audience could also enjoy the action scene from an action stand point and not just a comedy stand point.
Even though I am complaining a bit about Wright's style of shooting the action, the amount of action that we get at the end of this film is just great. It would be a spoiler if I mentioned the specifics of how this action scene comes to be. Just know my dear reader that Hot Fuzz delivers on one heck of an action packed finale that incorporates shootouts, melee fights, car chases, and fist fights. Hot Fuzz is one of those rare "third act build up" films that delivers an enjoyable film even before the third act of action and violence finally arrives.
The performances and characters in this film are absolutely unforgettable. Wright regular Simon Pegg is great as the straight man and Nick Frost is great as the goofball comic. I enjoyed seeing the character of Angel cozy up to the stereotypes of action cinema near the end of the film. Butterman is also a lovable bumbling character. His love for action movies is my love for action movies. When he asks Angel to choose between Bad Boys 2 and Point Break, Angel replies, "I don't know which one to pick." And Butterman replies, "No, which one do you want to watch first?" I love that. Their chemistry on screen together is electric. As real life best friends, the two come off absolutely great in the film.
Major kudos should also be given to the many older actors in the film. My favorite elder performance in the film goes to former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton (License to Kill). Dalton is so devilish and vile in every single scene that he was practically born to play the character of Simon Skinner. I can't say enough about how enjoyable he is in this film. He wears a sh*t eating grin every second of his screen time and I can't get enough of him. Dalton is already action royalty for his two time performance as James Bond in the late 80's. Therefore, it was cool to see an action icon amongst the comedy and the action in this great flick.
Hot Fuzz is a great cinematic experience. The film is bursting with unforgettable comedy, laughs, action, and even drama. Even though Wright's energetic style is a little over board for me at times, his film is never dull for a second. His jokes and comedic timing are also flawless. As a die hard action fan myself, I love this parody of action cinema to death. I highly recommend this film to all comedy and action fans! I also recommend watching Wright's other two Cornetto films! But action fans like me will most likely end up liking this film the most.
Rating: 9/10 - The perfect balance of comedy and action. Wright lampoons all that we love about action cinema while delivering one heck of a final action scene.
Hot Fuzz is one of the funnest comedies in recent years. Wright is a true comedic genius. He knows how to set up jokes early on in the picture in order to deliver great pay offs later. One thing I noticed this go around of the film were the deeply intricate jokes that only one with a keen eye would catch. For example: a character named Tim Messenger works for the newspaper. The fact that his last name is Messenger is already a joke because he has a message to tell Angel and writes for the newspaper.
When Angel watches Messenger at a town fair, he sees Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton) managing a booth called "Whack The Rat." This is ironic because Messenger apparently has some news on the shady murders in town and is technically a "rat" for unearthing him. Therefore, his death a few moments later makes sense because Wright foreshadows it by showing Skinner shout "Whack the Rat" while staring at Messenger. Great comedic genius like this peppers the entirety of Hot Fuzz.
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| Like shots like this... |
Action fans will also love Hot Fuzz because it features some great jokes about action cinema and features some excellent action of its own. Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) is a lousy cop but a huge action cinema fan. He constantly bugs Angel with questions about action movies and tells Angel that his two favorite action films are Michael Bay's Bad Boys 2 (2003) and Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (1991). Hot Fuzz even goes on to duplicate lines and moments from these action films within its own narrative and makes for some hilarious jokes.
I love how Butterman asks Angel if he has ever performed various action stereotypes within his own line of work: shooting a gun while driving in a car chase, leaping through the air while firing two pistols, and delivering witty one liners. And yet, all of these things happen in the film's big finale and all make for great laughs. Action fans will get a real kick out of seeing some of their favorite action stereotypes appear in such an awesome yet funny manner.
Wright's editing and directing style is some of the most energetic and creative in comedy today. He incorporates many quick and stylistic cuts throughout his films. I think that this style of editing works great for comedy and helps to make an otherwise boring film more interesting. Unlike boring American comedies like The Heat and Ride Along, Hot Fuzz takes every opportunity to make each scene either funny or artistically creative.
 |
| And shots like this... |
However, I think Wright goes a little over board with his editing style during the film's big action finale. While I think its funny that Wright shows a character pump a shotgun from four different angles for a laugh, his rapid style of cutting and love of close ups ruins the action itself. The big action finale is shot from so many angles and cuts so many times that one may become nauseated or confused from it all.
During the big finale, Angel has a night stick fight with a man using a sword. This melee fight is shot and edited so poorly, that it's nearly impossible to make out the fight scene. I know that Wright's style is energetic and exciting, but he needed to pull the camera back a bit during the action scenes so that we as an audience could also enjoy the action scene from an action stand point and not just a comedy stand point.
Even though I am complaining a bit about Wright's style of shooting the action, the amount of action that we get at the end of this film is just great. It would be a spoiler if I mentioned the specifics of how this action scene comes to be. Just know my dear reader that Hot Fuzz delivers on one heck of an action packed finale that incorporates shootouts, melee fights, car chases, and fist fights. Hot Fuzz is one of those rare "third act build up" films that delivers an enjoyable film even before the third act of action and violence finally arrives.
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| John Woo would be proud. |
The performances and characters in this film are absolutely unforgettable. Wright regular Simon Pegg is great as the straight man and Nick Frost is great as the goofball comic. I enjoyed seeing the character of Angel cozy up to the stereotypes of action cinema near the end of the film. Butterman is also a lovable bumbling character. His love for action movies is my love for action movies. When he asks Angel to choose between Bad Boys 2 and Point Break, Angel replies, "I don't know which one to pick." And Butterman replies, "No, which one do you want to watch first?" I love that. Their chemistry on screen together is electric. As real life best friends, the two come off absolutely great in the film.
Major kudos should also be given to the many older actors in the film. My favorite elder performance in the film goes to former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton (License to Kill). Dalton is so devilish and vile in every single scene that he was practically born to play the character of Simon Skinner. I can't say enough about how enjoyable he is in this film. He wears a sh*t eating grin every second of his screen time and I can't get enough of him. Dalton is already action royalty for his two time performance as James Bond in the late 80's. Therefore, it was cool to see an action icon amongst the comedy and the action in this great flick.
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| Peter Jackson cameo! |
Hot Fuzz is a great cinematic experience. The film is bursting with unforgettable comedy, laughs, action, and even drama. Even though Wright's energetic style is a little over board for me at times, his film is never dull for a second. His jokes and comedic timing are also flawless. As a die hard action fan myself, I love this parody of action cinema to death. I highly recommend this film to all comedy and action fans! I also recommend watching Wright's other two Cornetto films! But action fans like me will most likely end up liking this film the most.
Rating: 9/10 - The perfect balance of comedy and action. Wright lampoons all that we love about action cinema while delivering one heck of a final action scene.
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