Hot Fuzz

With the upcoming release of Baby Driver, the latest film by writer/director Edgar Wright, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at his previous films. I've already reviewed his first film, Shaun of the Dead, on this blog (and it can be found here) so I'm jumping in with his second film, Hot Fuzz. A smartly written deconstruction and loving parody of action films, this one is a blast from start to finish (and my personal favorite, although I love them all).  

Nicholas Angel (played by Simon Pegg) is an exceptional police officer, excelling at every task he is given. He is so good in his job that he is transferred by his superior officers simply because he's making the rest of them look bad. Nicholas is sent to the quiet country village of Sanford to take the open vacancy as their newest Sergeant. Upon arriving, he meets his new partner Danny Butterman (played by Nick Frost), an action movie junkie who feels like he's missing out on "proper action" being a small town cop, despite Nicholas reassuring him that being a police officer is nothing like the movies. Meanwhile, Nicholas starts to notice something suspicious about a series of grisly accidents that have befallen a number of the residents of the town and becomes convinced that they are in fact carefully staged murders, despite the insistence of his fellow officers that it isn't (including Inspector Frank Butterman (played by Jim Broadbent), who is also Danny's father, and the department's two detectives Andy Wainright (played by Paddy Considine) and Andy Cartwright (played by Rafe Spall)). 

Edgar Wright directed from a script that he and Simon Pegg wrote together. The two of them do a fantastic job deconstructing the various tropes of the action movie genre, especially those centered on the police, and make fun of it in a refreshingly amusing way. Much of this is done through the interactions between Nicholas and Danny. Danny, who sees Nicholas as this big city supercop, asks him endless questions based on things he's seen in action movies ("Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?" "Is it true that there is a place on a man's head that if you shoot it, it will blow up?"). Nicholas patiently debunks each one while also pointing out that the level of carnage and destruction in those movies would result in an insurmountable amount of paperwork. All the while though, there is also a legitimate mystery thriller going on in the film as Nicholas and Danny try to figure out the source of these strange deaths going on in the village as well as figuring out who's behind it and why. 

This, of course, leads us to the brilliant climax of the film. For the bulk of the run time, Nicholas has been talking down the various cop movie cliches only for the climax to gleefully indulge in every single one of them. It's a blast watching Danny and Nicholas act out every cliche that Danny asked him about earlier in the film. Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg love to layer their films with foreshadowing as well, which this plays into, along with even subtler nods that are impossible to pick up on the first time through, making re-watching the film a nice treat as you catch certain things on repeated viewings. This film also contains a nice callback to the fence climbing gag from Shaun of the Dead that might actually be funnier than the one in that film. They also loaded the film with a number of fun cameos, including Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy as Nicholas' superior officers as well as a barely recognizable Cate Blanchett as Nicholas' ex Janine and director Peter Jackson as a criminal dressed as Father Christmas. 

The performances in the film are quite good as well. Simon Pegg more or less plays the straight person in this as the super serious Nicholas Angel who struggles to switch off his Police Officer persona and relax when he's not working. His first night in Sanford, he manages to clean out the local pub of all underage drinkers as well as arrest five people and it's not even his first day yet. On the other hand, we have Nick Frost as the laid back Danny Butterman. Now, I relate a lot to Danny and his love of action movies. At one point, Nicholas and Danny are hanging out at Danny's flat when Danny reveals an entire closet of shelves floor to ceiling with DVDs. I want that closet, carefully organized with tiny lights on each of the shelves to make perusing the collection that much easier (There is also a nice joke when Nicholas compliments him on his flat, then notices the unpacked boxes and asks, "When did you move in?" "Five years ago," is Butterman's response. I laughed harder than usual because my flat is in a similar state after living there about as long). Pegg and Frost are long time friends, with their acting partnership dating all the way back to the U.K T.V series Spaced, which they also worked on with Edgar Wright. They have a fantastic chemistry with one another that comes through with their characters here as well as they bond and Danny helps Nicholas unwind a bit. The script for the film originally included a love interest for Nicholas but they eventually discarded them and gave all the lines to Danny, adding an interesting, if slashy, new level to their friendship as well. Timothy Dalton shows up as the manager of the local supermarket, and potential murder suspect, and gives a wonderful comedic performance nailing every gag he can. 

The film contains numerous references and homages to other action movies. The main references are to the extreme sports action epic Point Break and the over the top action stylings of Bad Boys II. But over the course of the film there are also references to the likes of Die Hard, Dirty Harry, and Lethal Weapon among many, many others. In fact, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's action movie nerdiness runs so deep, a scene where Nicholas and Danny discover a farmer's giant cache of firearms is scored with the music from the trailers to all four Lethal Weapon movies. That really impressed me because of course I recognized it immediately.     

Hot Fuzz forms the middle chapter of the "Cornetto Trilogy," three films partnering Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost. The films are loosely connected by the similar casts and running gags between the films, although narrative-wise there is no connection between the films. The name is derived from a brand of Sundae Cones in Great Britain, with each film's genre inspired by the color of the wrapper of a flavor of Cornetto, this one being Blue, hence Police. The previous one was the Red wrapper (or Strawberry flavor), signifying the zombie film Shaun of the Dead and the third entry was the Green wrapper (or Mint flavor) with the Sci-Fi The World's End closing out the trilogy (more on that one to come).   

It's hard to believe it's already been 10 years since this movie came out. It's probably my favorite of the trilogy, although I love all three dearly for different reasons. I think in part it's because I grew up on the action movies that Wright and Pegg are so lovingly lampooning while creating a satisfyingly unique action film of their own. For that alone, it ranks among my favorite movies of all time. From the fantastic humor to the great performances from Pegg and Frost to the solid direction from Edgar Wright, there is plenty to love with this one.