Advance Review: Hot Fuzz

Advance Review: Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007, UK).

When Shaun of the Dead was released in 2003, it was very mucha cult hit. As well executed as the marketing was for the film (I especially remember the ads on the outsides of phone boxes), it never turly seemed to break out. There could be a number of reasons for this, Shaun came at a time when the zombie movie genre was just starting to ramp up again. The humour was very much of a Spaced-nature, it felt like a cult film. For the Pegg-Frost-Wright team's next project, I think the guys must have learnt something from the time they have spent in America (Where Shaun did very very well it must be said), as Hot Fuzz is going to be huge. I could not be happier.
Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the best for the London Metropolitan Police has. In the fast-paced opening couple of minutes we learn that he has excelled in every area of Police training and has even gotten over being stabbed in the hand by a man dressed as Father Christmas (The man incidentally being played by Peter Jackson according to Pegg at the Q&A after). All this sucess has made his superiors (Cameos from Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan and Martin Freeman) nervous that he is showing everyone up. Because of this he is forced into a transfer to the sleepy village of Sandford. Upon his arrival he arrests half the town for public urinating and underage drinking, and in one instance trying to drink-drive, a man who later turns out to be Police Constable, Danny Butterman (my new hero, Nick Frost). The town, he discovers, has a relaxed attitude to polic enforcement, the team being more interested in eating Black Forest Gateau than looking for crime. However, Angel, with his new partner Butterman, soon discover that the townsfolk (Including Timothy Dalton, Edward Woodward and more) are not entirely what they seem.
To say this film will fast become one of my favourtie comedies ever feels almost like I am underselling it. the fact that after the first viewing, I already prefer it over Shaun, is mind-boggling to be honest. The team have really struck the ball out of the park with this one. The humour feels far more broad and yet it still hits every note for the people who have been with this team since the first days of Spaced. There are re-hashes of jokes from both Spaced and Shaun (As seen in the trailers), but they do not feel forced, they feel like naturally good jokes by themselves. The script is pretty much a laugh a minute. At first it is just the wordplay and funny circumstances surronding the little English village., but it later changes as the film becomes almost surreal in the ridiculousness of the action towards the end (Watch for the woman shooting on her bike), but again, the whole thing feels natural and completely right for the world that the tem have created.
The perofmances are top-notch and it is great to say that not once was I reminded of the charcters from wither Spaced or Shaun. Pegg as Angel completely changes his previous personnas to become very much a straight-man action hero. He is uptight and a bit of a prick at first even, but he is supposed to be. As the film goes on he loosens up (and finds an affinity for action films), and by the end becomes a top cop and a good person to boot. Frost pretty much owns the film, his character is hilarious, some of the stuff he comes out with is incredible, but he is not just comic relief. He feels like a proper charcacter. One of the film's biggest revelations concerns him and he carries off the dramatic weight of the script really really well. His brainfreeze moment is bloody brilliant also! Props most also be given to Paddy Considine and rafe Spall (who looks so different from his character in Shaun that I barely thought it was the same guy). As the Andy's, they own the scenes they are in. They are so childish and so bloody West-Country, you cannot help but laugh whenever they say anything. I have never seen Considine do comedy before but he seems to have a natural knack for it. He also gives what is my favourtie line in the whole film, "If you want to be a top cop, go fuck off up the model village". Might not sound funny now, but I almost pissed myself when I saw it.
Edgar Wright has also obviosuly grown as a director. The quick edits which were used a lot in Spaced and Shaun gradually give way to a more traditional action-movie style of editing, and Wright understands how to deliver the action perfectly. The homages are brilliant and you can tell that he studied the fundamentals of the action film before shooting. This fil excels in beign a great action film also. They are very very very funny but at the same time, you also think, "I want to have a giant shootout in a village square, IT LOOKS SO COOL!!!!!!!", yes the inner-child in me came out with glee! The kills in this film deserve a mention too, very bloody, not as gory as Shaun but getting there, but really very funny also.
If this review has been a little vague, it's just that I don't want to spoil too much of the film. I'll be back to see it this week, maybe twice and I'll be counting the days until the DVD comes out after. A truly fantastic comedy, a suprisingly gripping acion film, and already one of the best films we will see this year full stop.

If you guys want the Q&A, email me or comment. It was long but I'll transcribe it if you folks want it. Seriously see this film.