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With a fiendishly witty
farce just as scathingly hilarious as its predecessor, the creators
of Shaun of the Dead swap zombies for all things action in the wildly
creative homage thrill-ride Hot Fuzz. An impressive ensemble of
talented actors join Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as they lovingly
mock action classics from Point Break to Bad Boys to Hard Boiled.
In one of the most intelligently scripted films of the year, buildings
explode, clips expend, and cars fly through the air in slow motion
as this no-holds-barred kaleidoscope of action leaves no adventure
cliché untouched and no old lady unscathed.
Veritable supercop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is reluctantly transferred to the sleepy rural town of Sandford after his unmatched police records and merits have pressured the rest of London’s police force to attempt to compete. Finding it difficult to adapt to the overly peaceful community, Angel befriends fellow officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), a dimwitted policeman who admires the hard-boiled London cop. When seemingly random citizens start meeting with untimely “accidental” deaths, Angel suspects foul play and sets off to expose a dangerous serial killer and uncover the dark conspiracy surrounding Sandford’s tranquil facade – all whilst shooting two guns and jumping through the air. Hot Fuzz pays tribute to every staple of the action film genre,
from high-speed car chases and blazing shoot-outs to slow-motion
stunts and hard-to-kill villains. Every fundamental is addressed
and astutely parodied with several key films in mind. The homage
to Point Break and Bad Boys is crystal clear, but the genre-spoofing
duo have done their homework – scenes derived from Rambo,
Die Hard, Hard Boiled, Lethal Weapon and the Man With No Name
trilogy await the action film connoisseur. |
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Reprising his role as
the serious character in a bizarrely comical situation, Simon Pegg
once again provides plenty of laughs as the take-charge fish-out-of-water
who unwittingly becomes involved in the sinister conspiracy at Sandford.
Nick Frost also lends a familiar persona, this time as a bumbling
police officer pining for the extreme action he sees in movies.
Other regulars include Bill Nighy as the London Chief Inspector
and Martin Freeman as a desk sergeant. Veteran actor Timothy Dalton
appears as Simon Skinner, the devilish manager of a local grocery
store, while Rafe Spall and Paddy Considine bring a refreshing sarcasm
to the two mustachioed officers Cartwright and Wainwright.
Hot Fuzz takes a decidedly R-rated approach to the action, dialogue, and violence, but somewhere between brutal decapitations and roundhouse kicking an old lady in the head comes a sadistically stylish brand of comedy as diabolically entertaining as it sounds. Blood flies as fast as the ingenious jokes and even priests and handgun toting cyclists aren’t spared from Pegg’s ruthless blend of fuzz and fireworks. Much in the same way Shaun of the Dead tackled its subject with a clever tongue and naïve characters, Fuzz pits Nicholas Angel against the elements of an action movie, though this time he’s far more qualified for the job. While the intricate murder mystery furthers the plot along, all the events are really just a methodic build to the explosive final showdown with the bad-guys – a culmination any action movie worth its salt would provide. And what a conclusion it is, with high-octane explosions, insane duels, and fantastically over-the-top stunts that perfectly exaggerate the outlandish beauty of the movies that inspired it. Whether trading zombies for action films is an upgrade in your book, it’s hard to deny that Pegg, Frost, and director Edgar Wright have proven once again that they know how to get a laugh. Hot Fuzz is a raucous riot of sharp quips and glorious carnage, bloody battles mixed with cunning caricatures and witty mimicry- a sublime combination not seen since the classic action films it so eloquently parodies. - Joel Massie |
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