Hot Fuzz

Good movie I'll rate it as 5/10

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I saw this movie thinking that it would be funny based on the reviews I read. This movie is horrible. It would appear as though the writers and directors took a look at what they thought Americans would like and added a little bit of ever movie that America has made. SPOILERS AHEAD: The movie starts with a feel of a tough guy bad ass cop (Nick Angel) who is being put out to the pasture for being such a super-cop. As they setup Nick to retire in the office scene where he meets with his superiors, you want to say "who didn't see that coming?" as each shot unfolds. As you get introduced into his new environment, you find that Nick remains a hard ass who basically leads a one man army against crime. You start to see similarities of a cross between Terminator/Rambo and Conspiracy Theory coming into play. Trying to offset Nicks tough persona, they stick him with a Charlie Brown like character so clueless on about everything that goes on who finally grows some balls toward the very end of the movie. The suspense is second rate at best and the lack of subtlety with how they introduce the villains makes you grow more tired with boredom. As each murder unravels, and the continued denial of murders by the Chief Inspector, you have to think to yourself, either this is all a setup or everyone in this small town is headed for the loony bin. When Nick finally uncovers whats going on, the rational that you hear by the criminals makes you wonder about the first hour and half of the movie (which includes pointed remarks on the turning a blind eye on crimes witnessed by Nick Angel. As the movie comes to a finale, you have the Nick enter the town in a Western style (riding in on a white horse) with a Rambo element(body covered in guns). The gunfight scene is a joke and as you see each element of the battle, you have the urge to walk out of the theater. All in all, this movie doesn't know what it wants to be. It seems to want to be a take off of Lethal Weapon put on steroids and speed with a sprinkle of what some might call comedy and a poor attempt at suspense and mystery. Now add the feel of Pulp Fiction and Die Hard. Up until now, I would have been open to British theater. Some of the older TV series such as "As Time Goes By" do a much better job of witty humor then this movie could ever do. Someone might want to let Simon Pegg know that the MTV era is pretty much dead. When I went to the theater to see this movie, I was the ONLY person seeing it. Bottom line, don't waste your money. You'll get a better laugh from watching a TV sitcom and a better thrill from watching an old action video.

I went along to this movie with high expectations, but low preconceptions. i was sorely disappointed with what I saw. The premise of the film was fine - a spoof involving an over zealous City Cop unleashed into the strange ways of a quiet backwater village. However the fundamental problem is that it is not that funny. Combine this with an overlong 2 hour running time and you are in trouble. The golden rule of comedy films is that no matter how good the content, they don't overrun 90 minutes. This one overshot by 30 minutes and was really a tight 45 minute idea. The Director, Edgar Wright had a cross over cult hit with "Shaun of the Dead" - interestingly the remainder of his work has been more miss than hit. However on the strength of the success of "Shaun", a pretty strong cast was assembled including Bilie Whitelaw, Bill Nighy and Timothy Dalton. Valliantlly as they perform though, there is only so much that they can do with a pretty thin script. Fot film aficionados there are references to other Cop Movies, and in jokes galore, with a pleasingly eclectic score to go with it. However the cod gore fest of some of the village "accidents" reprising "Shaun " moments are really sub "Scary Movie " stuff. And the Gonzo Police action scenes tire quickly. Ironically the funniest moment for me was the most under stated. He goes into the village pub for the first time, empties it by clearing out all the under age drinkers, then orders a Cranberry Juice. To be fair the 16 year olds in the Theatre thought the film was "mental" - and the plot is undeniably a good premise. But the execution is undisciplined and gratuitously slack hence my unusually low rating.

I would briefly like to say that I am amazed by the fact that this movie has a rating of 8.2. This is a sad indictement of something: not sure what, probably the parochial nature of the English with regard to their cultural products(not that we Kiwi's are any better!) Shaun of the Dead was a fantastic movie: absolutely loved it, probably my favourite movie of the year that it came out, so I'm not a hater of British comedy or this particularly duo. Based on Shaun I was really looking forward to more of the same wit and chemistry but I was sadly disappointed for the following reasons: Unlikeable characters: Lame, not sure if that was meant to be a joke humour: Lack of chemistry between characters: A mish mash of styles that just did not work for me at all: A failure to make the audience care about the village in which the film was set or any of its inhabitants: A long list of lame stereotypes that were not really explored and played with but just stuck out there: Extreme length: Poor script: A sense of cringe-making entitlement: Unfunny, unnecessary gore Late in the film we discover that people whom the Council of village elders dislike are constantly being murdered in order to preserve the village's pristine image, yet we do not get a sense of dread or incongruity from the villagers, despite the fact that their neighbours and children (in some cases) are just disappearing: the village seems boring, not creepy.... if this was supposed to be a satire of small town hypocrisy then the unhappiness of the residents, even if only privately expressed, would have added to a sense of unease... As it is, the sudden revelation that cartoonish crimes have been happening on a regular basis is not a shock but is just blah: you don't care because you never felt any pain or grief re: the murders/disappearances - my response was: oh, so that's the twist eh... ho hum.... Peter Jackson did the small town people turned crazed zombie killers thing well in Brain Dead- in this film when the old man with the rain coat pulls out his shot gun at the end, i was like... hmmm that was ..wacky... sigh. Basically I hated this movie much more that a typical Bad Boys II type movie because it has the potential to be so much more: sadly it was lame, watered down and crappy....

Let me start by saying i love Spaced and Shaun of the Dead, both of which i've seen many many times on DVD (even got Spaced signed by the cast and Edgar) so you can understand my excitement on watching Hot Fuzz. Now i'm home after watching at the cinema both my wife and i thought it was alright. Nothing more. Don't get me wrong, i can think of worse ways of spending 2 hours but it just didn't feel as _sharp_ as shaun. The best thing about Shaun is it's multi-layered. You can watch it again and again and spot things you missed the first time around. It credits you with a brain and lets you work things out for yourself. Hot Fuzz feels the need to help you along by using constant ghost voice overs reminding you of specific dialogue at salient points. I think i was just expecting more from it, i was waiting to see slow-mo shoot outs in the village hall, fast cutting one-on-one shoot outs. Walking away from explosions with shotguns over their shoulder. There seemed to be none of that. Although there were laughs, they weren't belly laughs. Anyone who watched Shaun will remember them bashing a zombie with pool cues in time to 'Don't Stop Me Know' will smile to themselves. It was more humorous with a couple of in jokes to older Wright-Pegg material. I don't think i actually laughed loudly once during the whole movie. It also seemed to be for a larger audience. Shaun was cult through and through. It paid homage to so many zombie movies it was hard to keep count and some of them were so subtle it was hard to spot without multiple viewings (Foree Electronics anyone?). Hot Fuzz seemed more generic and tried to be a movie in itself rather than paying homage to anything specific, although i did spot the Lethal Weapon reference quite clearly. So there we have it, it was amusing, but not funny. There was action, but you have to wait a while for it. And some of the characters seemed to be there just for the sake of getting someone famous in. I've never seen Bill Bailey so underused in anything in my life. It was alright

After Shaun of the Dead, this second pairing of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was very high on my wanted list, and it didn't disappoint in the least. Hot Fuzz is crammed full of excellent characters, ranging from the eccentric to the diabolical, and every one gets at least one laugh during the course of the movie and most of them get many more. I don't mean to suggest that this film is wall to wall gags; in fact it is far from it, instead it is just very clever and often very subtle humour that runs continuously throughout the film. Another pleasant surprise was the wonderfully impressive murder scenes, which were pretty gruesome and definitely stood out from the general vibe of the film, which made them far more involving. As well as the comedy and the murders, there is also a genuine sense of mystery surrounding these events and it definitely makes for compulsive viewing. Just in case all that wasn't enough to satisfy you, there is a very action packed and explosive end sequence that is so out of place and ludicrous it works like a charm, and simply caps the film off in style superbly. For me this film was every bit as good as Shaun of the Dead, and its definitely one of the best comedies ever made. 9/10

I was deceived by the 8-10 star ratings that come up on the first dozen reviews in IMDB. Am disappointed by this surprisingly poor work. Some good parts & laughs: first 10 mins, e.g. Angel's interaction with his gf. Inaudible utterances of the old cop and the following translations. "What he said" by some junior cop. Suggested improvement in wordings, like "police officer, not policeman, as later is sexist", "Police service, not police force, as later is aggressive", etc. Angel guessing 'narp', following 'yarp'. Bad: too fast cuts in the scenes (sometimes i watched at 0.8x speed to be able see what the scene wanted to say), lame plot, incredibly bad/childish scenes involving detectives. Repeats of same scene again and again, like denial by local cops was overdone. Some character's reactions are way over the top to make it 'obvious' to the viewer- fit to be in an indian soap serial. Horribly inexplicable the murders, supposedly happening yet noone in the village cares? The murderer explaining their motives to the cop one by one- fit to be in a 90s cheesy Indian movie. Handler of murderer phones him immediately to detail out all his motives for the 'understanding' of the viewer. Even the interview by seniors of Angel in London office scene had poor/cartoonish elements. Just everybody shown previously as normal people on street turn out to be villainous at the end. Horrible gun shootings scene- may fit in a youtuber's first attempt at movie making. Murderer appears out of nowhere, like in slasher movies, but this murderer was standing, in costume in the open, 10 ft from the serious cop. I am used to 4-5 extreme reviews for any movie, but that's ok because reading first 20 or so reviews usually give a fair idea of how good the movie truly is. This one remains a mystery: how come so many 8*+ review even after scrolling down 2-3 times. I would think 3 to 5 stars out of 10 is fair.

So here we have it, the eagerly awaited follow-up from the same team that brought us Shaun of the Dead. But whereas Shaun (hereafter shortened to SOTD) drew its inspiration primarily from zombie films (more specifically, George Romero's "Dead" films), Hot Fuzz throws its net a bit wider, taking in every buddy-buddy cop action film made in the last 20 odd years and combining it with a very British perspective. Think Midsummer Murder spliced with Bad Boys 2 and you should have the rough idea. Through a series of quick cuts we are introduced to Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), an outstanding officer in the London police force, a super cop with an arrest record 400% higher than anyone else. In fact he's so good, he makes everyone else look bad. So Angel is packed off to the picture-perfect village of Sandford, alone save for his beloved Japanese Peace Lilly. On arrival Angel finds it difficult to adjust to village life, constantly on the look out for crime in a place where there hasn't been a murder for over 20 years and the police station is so quiet that the staff spend most of their time eating cake and ice-cream. He also finds himself partnered with over-eager constable Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent). Danny is obsessed with action films and believe's that Angel is his chance to live out his dreams of car chases and gunfights. With the set-up completed within the first 15 minutes it's on with the plot as people start to die in a series of grisly "accidents". Angel is suspicious but no-one believes him apart from Danny. With the body count rising though, the two need to work together to find out what's going on or could it be that Angel is just wound too tightly for country living? Pegg and Frost have been doing their double act for so long it's become second nature and it's nice to see them playing (slightly) different roles. Just like SOTD, they are ably supported by a cast of familiar faces from British film and TV. It's good to see Timothy Dalton having so much fun, playing the sinister Mr Skinner with a moustache-twirling relish. Other standouts include Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall as the Andy's, two detectives who spend most of their time verbally abusing Angel and Danny. The film is packed full of references, which I'm sure will take multiple viewings to catch. There's some inventively gory scenes which are sure to make everyone a bit more careful around churches and model villages, though they are a bit too obviously CGI. It's a shame that the action doesn't kick into high gear until the final third but with the plot not going down the most obvious of routes and since I was laughing all the way through I can't really complain. The film is a success in it's attempt to create a "British" action film, combining adrenaline-fuelled action with the mundane and everyday.