Me Mini Movie Reviews: Hot Fuzz

Synopsis from IMDB: Jealous colleagues conspire to get a top London cop (Simon Pegg) transferred to a small town and paired with a witless new partner (Nick Frost). On the beat, the pair stumble upon a series of suspicious accidents and events. A friend and I, who both loved Shaun of the Dead, got out to see this tonight. First of all, watching this one was a lot of fun. While it’s an intentional send up of all those action flicks a lot of people (like me) love, it also holds its own as a straight up action movie. There are all kinds of references to action flicks that have come before (some I noticed – Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Demolition Man, Hero and the Terror, He-Man, Desperado, Clint Eastwood Westerns, etc, and of course the ones they point out in the flick – Point Break and Bad Boys 2), and I had to smile when Nick Frost picks up Chuck Norris’ movie Silent Rage out of the bargain bin – and yes, I’ve seen that one too. I’m sure there were a lot more that I missed, and will have to watch this again when it comes to DVD to catch them all. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost hit all the marks with the comedy as well. Keep in mind, this isn’t a Will Ferrell kind of broad stupidity comedy, it’s more in line with the British dry wit and sarcasm, although there are certainly laugh out loud moments. Also, there are really two parts to the movie – the first two acts where Pegg gets transferred and slowly gets introduced to the various colorful townsfolk, and the last part that is an all out shoot ‘em up action flick. It does a slow burn as it sets up the final act, but even though it drags every now and then, it’s a lot of fun getting there. Once the final act hits and the bullets start flying, the fun factor goes through the roof. For an action flick staged in a small British village, they manage to hit most of the cliché marks of Hollywood explosion blockbusters along with some clever twists on the genre. There are even some moments where you might want to look away if you’re squeamish. If I had to say anything negative about it, I’d say it probably is a bit too long and could have been edited tighter to get to the third act quicker, but that’s a small matter. You get more of the odd townsfolk and Pegg/Frost interaction this way. The action does suffer a little from jump cut editing, but it is in no way as bad as The Bourne Supremacy. For the most part, you can easily see what’s going on. As a fan of action movies (and I’ve seen a lot of them), I loved Hot Fuzz. Especially since it stood on its own as an action movie while doing a send up of the genre without falling into complete parody (like the bad Scary Movie franchise, for instance.) The laughs are my kind of humor as well. The combo of Wright, Pegg, & Frost, come in with a great second flick after the even better Shaun of the Dead. It’s a fun time at the theatre, so go see it while its still playing. And pick up Shaun too while you’re at it. Verdict: Highly Recommended. Actually worth theatre money.