Hot Fuzz
The crew behind the immensely entertaining Shaun of the Dead has turned its attention from horror films to mine the same kind of parody gold from action movies. It took a little more digging, but eventually they hit the jackpot in
Hot Fuzz.
Co-writer Simon Pegg once again assumes the leading role, this time as Nick Angel, a policeman so good at his job that he's making the rest of London's police force look bad. To remedy this statistical problem, the chief inspector reassigns Angel to Sanford, a sleepy little town in the English countryside where the only concern is preparing for Britain's annual Best Village competition.
For the better part of the film's two-hour running time, Hot Fuzz never delves into full-blown parody, subtly referencing action crime movies while actually towing the line in terms of plot. Pegg and co-writer and director Edgar Wright instead use the town's eccentric characters for comic relief. A cast of excellent MIA British thespians like Edward Woodward (remember
The Equalizer?), Paul Freeman (Indiana Jones' nemesis in Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Stuart Wilson (the bad guy in
Lethal Weapon 3) round out Sanford's seemingly innocent underbelly. Especially enjoyable is ex-Bond
Timothy Dalton as a weirdly sinister supermarket owner.
Their bizarre behavior, and some key clues, have Angel convinced that the town's sudden spike in deadly accidents are in fact murders. But no one on the force believes him, including police chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), who refuses to pursue the mounting evidence. Even Angel's one friend in town, Butterman's portly constable son, Danny (Nick Frost), isn't sold; he's too busy convincing himself that Angel's life in London was as exciting as the action-packed Hollywood cop movies he's always watching. Certain in his resolve, Angel continues pressing the townsfolk until life starts imitating Danny's idea of “art” in a hilariously violent finale even Robert Rodriguez (a friend and consultant to Pegg and Wright) would be proud of.
Pegg and Wright's steady-as-she-goes approach to Hot Fuzz may not generate the same constant hilarity afforded them by
Shaun of the Dead's silly subject matter, but it pays huge dividends in the end. Other genre filmmakers beware: Pegg and Wright are a team to be reckoned with. Pray they don't come after you next.