Tags:
Film: Hot Fuzz
Year: 2007
Director: Edgar Wright
Writer: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Martin Freeman
Review:
This film starts off introducing us to a ‘super’ police officer in London, played by Simon Pegg. It lists off all of the great things he has done and all of the accomplishments to his credit. He is then called to meet with his sergeant, played by Martin Freeman, to tell him that he has been promoted to the same position, but out in the country, in the quiet town of Sandford. Pegg is not excited, because it is slow there and he likes the fast pace of London. He takes this all the way up the ladder, trying to fight it. The other superiors played by Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan. Despite his fight, he still is going out to the country.
Pegg goes to visit his ex-girlfriend, who works as a crime scene investigator. She is played by Cate Blanchett. She is already seeing someone else and Pegg wonders if he takes his job a little too serious. He also gets a call from his superior that his place is ready and then learns that it isn’t. He has to stay at the local inn with Eric Mason and his wife, Billie Whitelaw. At the local pub he meets the couple that runs it, played by Peter Wight and Julia Deakin. He also meets a man played by Nick Frost. Pegg cannot turn it off being a cop and kicks out a bunch of underage youths in the pub, much to the anger of Wigh and Deakin as they have no more customers.
Outside Pegg looks at the fountain and notices a chip missing. Pegg told Frost that he wasn’t going to be driving home, but he tries to anyway. Pegg busts him as well as bunch of the kids from the bar, doing a bunch of different things wrong. He hasn’t even officially started, but brings them to lock-up.
The next morning, Pegg jogs to work and meets a local supermarket owner, played by Timothy Dalton. Everyone in town knows who he is already and acknowledges him.
When Pegg gets to the station, he goes to check on Frost, only to realize that he is a cop as well. Frost’s dad is actually the inspector, played by Jim Broadbent. Pegg is introduced to all of the other officers of this station as well. There is the desk sergeant played by Bill Bailey. Two detectives played by Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall. There is also Kevin Eldon, Karl Johnson and Olivia Colman. There are also cameras all around town and they are monitored by Edward Woodward.
Pegg and Frost are partnered up. Pegg is bored with how little there is to do and he is suspicious of almost everyone. Frost on the other hand knows who these people are and tells them why things are as they are. There is one that should be pointed out is Rory McCann. He has the mind of a child, but he is a large, giant of a man.
The two partners are clocking the speed of passer bys on the street. There is a car that speeds past, driven by David Threlfall and his passenger is Lucy Punch. Threlfall informs Pegg that he is in a hurry, because they are actors in a rendition of Romeo and Juliet. Despite his pleas, Pegg gives him a ticket.
Pegg and Frost are invited to the play and it is bad. They then go to the after party where Dalton makes some off the wall comments that do not sit well with Pegg. The next morning, Threlfall and Punch are found dead. Pegg feels there is foul play, but no one in the station agrees with him.
The next day there is another murder by a hooded figure of a rich citizen played by Ron Cook. His house explodes and that makes it look like an accident.
The following day, there’s a fair that Pegg is required to work. There is a local news reporter who makes tabloid stories out of everything and has poor spelling. He is played by Adam Buxton and he has some information to share with Pegg. Pegg has to help with naming off winners of a raffle at the time they are supposed to meet. Someone in a hood pushes a part of the roof onto him, killing Buxton.
Who is the masked figure? Can Pegg convince the police that there is foul play, or will they continue to believe there are just accidents? Is there a bigger plot here or just one person behind this?
What is great about this film is that the group that made it is great at taking a genre and making a comedy out of it. This one is mostly mocking action films. What is funny is that Frost in this film recommends all types of action films to Pegg, but in real life, he has never seen most of the ones he talks about. The acting is solid as there is a great cast of solid British actors and actresses, which helps this film a lot. The story is very interesting and pretty believable for a comedy. On top of that, the action sequence at the end is over the top, but still fun to watch.
Now one of my biggest issues with this film though, is how over the top the ending sequence is. I love action films and they are always somewhat unbelievable in what they have happen. It is also actually interesting that Pegg doesn’t like to fire guns, but he has a bunch of them. He never actually kills anyone in this film with a gun, which I thought is interesting. It is also unrealistic as to what the twist of this film has. I don’t believe they could get away with what they do for as long as they do and that involves using murder. The high number of accidents would draw red flags you would assume. Now this is a comedy, so you need to have a little leeway on this.
This film is being added to the horror film research due to the fact of the hooded figure and him killing people. The ways that the person is killing people is reminiscent of slasher films, using an ax being the one that comes to mind.
With that said, I would recommend this film, especially if you love action films. This comedy pokes fun at what happens in them, but it is done in a great way. The action in this film is over the top, but still good. The cast is great and full of British all-stars in comedy. If you are looking for one that is more serious, then I would avoid this. Despite being a comedy though, it is still worth a viewing and enjoyable.
My Rating: 7 out of 10