In the wake of Shaun of the Dead, their 2004 British take on the zombie apocalypse, the dynamic trio of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost once again proved their knack for injecting a uniquely British sensibility while spoofing American genres. Their subsequent film, Hot Fuzz, directed and co-written by Wright, offers a similarly irreverent treatment of the "buddy cop" action film.
The film's protagonist, played by co-writer Simon Pegg, is Nicholas Angel, an over-achieving police officer from London who finds himself promoted to the rank of Sergeant and subsequently transferred to the sleepy town of Sanford in Gloucestershire. Upon his arrival, Angel quickly discovers that the town boasts a strikingly low crime rate, a situation that seems to have little to do with the local police force, which appears to take its duties with a rather relaxed attitude. This force includes young policeman Danny Butterman (played by Frost), who, despite at the start being arrested for drunk driving by Angel, is actually enthusiastic about his new colleague because he yearns for the action he has seen in Hollywood police action films and thinks that Angel, who had such experiences in the big city, might rub some of it on him. The two men become fast friends, and, as fate would have it, they soon find themselves thrust into the thick of action when the otherwise tranquil town becomes the unexpected site of a series of gruesome murders. Inspector Frank Butterman (played with authoritative gravitas by Jim Broadbent), chief of police and Danny's father, is eager to dismiss the events as mere unfortunate accidents, rather than the cold-blooded carnage they clearly are. It falls to the unlikely duo of Angel and Butterman to unravel the sinister mystery that threatens to engulf their seemingly idyllic place, and to bring the killers to justice.
Hot Fuzz is a film that deftly balances its homage to the action genre with a keen satirical eye towards the absurdities of small-town life and the challenges faced by those who dare to challenge the status quo. The film's humour stems from the sharp contrast between the seemingly idyllic and quiet rural English setting on one hand, and the bombastic action mayhem characteristic of US urban jungles in Hollywood films on the other. Like with his previous film, Wright also mixes humour with explicit violence and gore, while adding gunfights and explosions that, especially near the end, make Hot Fuzz resemble Michael Bay's films.
Wright and Pegg have spent enormous time in developing the film, which included watching around 138 Hollywood police films in order to extract the most common plot elements and cliches that would later be spoofed in their script. The most obvious of such elements is the "buddy buddy" dynamic between Angel and Danny. However, the scriptwriters invert some of these cliches, with Angel being introduced as "stuffy" by-the-book policeman, and Danny as more relaxed and laid-back.
Another important part of the formula is the cast. Pegg and his good friend Frost, who had already created an excellent dynamic in Shaun of the Dead, play their roles in the new film with ease. Their efforts are helped by a small army of talented actors in side roles, including former stars like Timothy Dalton, who excels in the role of the sinister villain.
Wright and Pegg took too much inspiration from Michael Bay, and, as a result, made their films bigger and louder than they should have been. While some of the criticism might stem from Shaun of the Dead setting expectations too high, there are some objective flaws in the film, most notably in its excessive length and overlong and almost never-ending finale where, like in most inferior comedies, humour gets less emphasis than mindless action.
However, when it is all said and done, most of the viewers will be pleased with the two hours of action and humor provided by Hot Fuzz. The film is considered to be the second part of the so-called Three Flavour Cornettos Trilogy (Shaun being the first), with the last part, titled The World's End, being released in 2013.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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