John Reviews Hot Fuzz

Hot-Fuzz-Poster-2Flat out, Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite films of the past couple of years. It was creative, funny, scrary… and single handedly created a new genre of film making: The Rom-Com-Zom (also known as the Romantic Comedy with Zombies). So imagine the great excitement when we heard this team was brining us a new film… Hot Fuzz.

Here’s the gist of it.

“Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other officer on the force. He’s so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result, Angel’s superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so embarrassing – the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford. Once there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman, Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life “bad boy,” and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy and Danny’s puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel’s growing frustration. However, as a series of grisly accidents rocks the village, Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny’s dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action seem more and more like a reality. It’s time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice.”

THE GOOD

Nick Frost, who was great in Shaun of the Dead, absolutely SHINES in this film. His pure comedic talent is allowed in this role to really show, and the results are hysterical. He plays the “lovable, yet bumbling” part so well, but at the same time endears the character to you. You don’t just end up liking the chubby little cop… you actually BELIEVE in him, cheer for him, and laugh with him all along the way.

This is a funny funny film. No, it’s not as funny as Shaun of the Dead and doesn’t have the same amount of laughs… but that doesn’t change the fact that you’ll grin a lot during this film. Most of the top laughs come from Frost himself, but the dialog is sharp, and director Edgar Wright’s use of situational humor and how he takes advantage of mood, context and atmosphere in the humor of the film is exceptional.

One of the things that surprised me about Hot Fuzz was its good use of action. No, this isn’t Pirates of the Caribbean, but as a cop action tribute, they really utilize some of the great standard action sequence formulas of the cop action films of the 90’s. The diving through the air, the duck and cover… great stuff.

One of my favorite things about Hot Fuzz was its direct homage to some of those action films. Films like Point Break (a truly fun movie that more people need to get out and see. Easily my favorite Patrick Swazye movie of all time) and others. As a film fan geek boy, it filled my empty heart with love to see.

THE BAD

The one deadly flaw to this film was its occasional decent into the corny, and when I say “corny” I don’t mean silly little things that some characters will do… I mean from time the time the film changes genres and thinks it’s AIRPLANE or HOT SHOTS and just gets totally bloody ridiculous… and it just doesn’t fit and pulls you out of the film. There is a fine line between “silly” and flat out “slapstick spoof”. Hot Fuzz works best with it boarders on the silly… but is at its worst when it crosses over to the Slapstick Spoof. Fortunately, that only happens a few times in the film.

Sigh, I know I can sound repetitive saying this… but it’s true: At just over 2 hours this film is too long for what it was. There was at least 15-20 minutes of stuff that could have been edited out which would have given us less lag time between laughs, a tighter pace, and cut out a couple of the more pointless scenes. It would have cured the film from feeling a little dragged out from time to time.

Bad ending.

OVER ALL

Do not go into this film automatically wired to compare it to Shaun of the Dead (which is tough not to do admittedly) and I believe you’ll walk out of Hot Fuzz having laughed a bunch and enjoyed a fun night at the movies. No, not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead, but who cares… it’s still a fun, at times exciting movie night out.

On the scale of 1-10 I give Hot Fuzz an 8. On the scale of No, Go and Routh… I give it a very solid GO.

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21 thoughts on “John Reviews Hot Fuzz

  1. This movie was…..fantastic. It wasn’t as good as shaun of the dead but i still thought it was great. The “airplane” type humor didn’t get in the way and i was laughing my ass off it is the best action/comedy in forever. by the way great review. id give it an 8.5/10. its fuckkin’ hilarious

  2. I fucking love this film! The story is very captivating and allows for very obscure moments that both wow and make us laugh; yet the flow of time leaves a lot of breathing room for hilarity which, sadly and shamefully, never occurs.

    If you are looking to compare Hot Fuzz to Shaun of the Dead, the break down of the humor ratio is affected by the different situations the characters find themselves in. Hot Fuzz sets itself up right off in the begining as being less goofy.

    I love Shaun of the Dead, and I sure as hell love Hot Fuzz; both are innovative, and bleed gallons of charm. Did I mention I fucking love this film?!

  3. pete, it’s because doug and john have gotten ugly as hell over the last few months.

    (although other sources claim, its because they don’t have the proper video recording/editing equipment with them in la. video reviews will be back when john and doug will return to canada)

  4. I never realized Cate Blanchett was actually Jeanine. I noticed the voice but I couldn’t place the face (well, it was covered) until I looked it up on IMDB. Peter Jackson is Father Christmas who stabs Angel in the hand BTW. I thought it started kinda slow but when the story kicks in hold on to your sides!

  5. Can’t wait to see Hot Fuzz, and luckily its actually playing here. I thought it might not when I read “limited release”.

    Finally, finally, was able to rent the DVD and watched Shaun of the Dead last night for the first time. Funny as hell and a genius way to do a zombie flick. Loved the movie, and I’m not even that big a fan of zombie flicks to begin with, but I really like the low key British style of humor and sarcasm.

  6. Actually Peter Jackson may have the first Rom-Zom-Com with “Dead Alive (aka Braindead). No fault to Wright and Pegg though.

    I thought Hot Fuzz was stellar. In a way better than Shaun of the Dead, because there is so much more going on in the film. The whole Wickerman/StawDogs angle to the first half of the film is priceless.

  7. Until recently, I didn’t understand what you were saying in your video reviews when you said, “Routh.” I thought you were saying “roaf” or something, which didn’t make sense to me.

    Then a friend of mine explained that it is a reference to Brandon Routh’s… “greatness.” That cleared up the confusion, but left me a bit frustrated.

    You see, according to the sources I found on the internet, “Routh” is pronounced “Rowth,” as in “south.” So yeah… I just want to suggest that you check up on that pronunciation, just to be sure. :)

  8. I agree that it wasn’t as good as shaun, but in some areas i thought it was better. for example i found there were more laugh-out-loud moments in fuzz whereas shaun had more ah-isn’t-that-clever moments that were still funny but didn’t make you laugh (fuzz had some of that but not as much).

    I’m also a huge fan of the 80’s/90’s buddy cop action movies this parodies so that warmed my heart too. I felt like cheering after the big action scene at the end.

    Overall I’d give it an 8 or 9 out of 10. Not perfect, but a damn good comedy.

  9. and the disagree-a-thon continues….;p

    I thought this film was a huge step up from shaun of the dead for these guys…don’t get me wrong I love shaun of the dead but i found it to be a great step forward for wrights skills and i can’t wait to see what he does next.
    All the performances are terrific especially a revigorated timothy dalton who for the first time in a loooonnnggggg time looks like he is actually enjoying himself on screen…..i actually found the ending to this film to be stronger than shauns….personally for me shaun of the dead starts to drag when they hold up in the winchester…once they go there i find the films starts to bore me but in this i loved the last moments – i especially it when we find out exactly why these murders are happening…very funny.
    Nick Frost is scene stealing genius and i hope he gets the right roles and not wasted in the future. His timing is perfect and i think he is opne of the best actors around at the moment.I applaud Simon Pegg too…he may have the traditional “lead” but he is effectively the straight man here and quite happy to let all the big laughs go to others and I find that commendable. wright isagreat film maker andI would reallyliketo see him go and do something without pegg and frost next to see what he comes up with. I hope his rumoured antman adaptation happens as I would like to see him bring his talents to the comic book movie but not as a “pegg/frost/wright do comic book movies” way like a third film in the vein of hot fuzz and shaun…I wantto see him go it alone and see what he comes up with …then get the three of them back together to tackle another genre…I personally would like to see them do a western.
    Anyway all in all I loved Hot Fuzz – it contains one of the best death scenes you will ever see (journalist at the fairchurch) and is a very funny clever take on the action film.

    oh and did you spot the peter jackson cameo campea?? he was santa claus at the beginning !! quite funny….anyway…..

  10. Yeah, i adored the film but thought the ending was a bit weird and unnecessary. I’d give it an 8 too.

    You forgot to mention Timothy Dalton though John. Wasn’t he just a force of nature in this film?

  11. I’m glad you liked the film, John! I can’t wait to see it! Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are some of my favorite actors!

    P.S. I’m am very suprised you gave it an 8 out of 10!

    P.S.S. Have you ever given a movie a 10 out of 10?

  12. nice review, you get across your feeling very well.
    Any chance of the vid reviews coming back john???

    on a sidenote, the video reviews were how I found out about the movie blog

    cheers,

    Brian

  13. Yeah I guess so Kristina but I just happen to prefer that rating a lot more. I don’t have a problem with the one that John uses I was just curious as to why he adopted that one instead of the star rating.

  14. I didn’t much care for the ending either, but I get what they were doing with it. They’re parodying that false ending heaps of actions movies do – just when you think its over, lucky you! you get MORE ACTION!

  15. Hey Krazie, I think he avoids the star ratings for the very reason you asked him to implement it: EVERYBODY does it. Gets lame after a while. I’ll try and catch the Fuzz this weekend.

  16. I love Shaun of the Dead and after seeing their show Spaced, I’ve become a bitch for anything these guys do. I’ll definetly being seeing Hot Fuzz tomarrow.

  17. Hey John I just wondered would you ever consider using a star rating for your reviews? I think the majaority of film critics use the four star rating scale which I happen to prefer I am just curious as to why you use the rating scale that you do. Not that there is anything bad with your rating system its just I think that the one you use can be a bit misleading. I mean giving a film an 8 might make people think its great as compared to a critic who gave a film a 3 star rating which usually means very good but not great.

    Good review by the way and I am glad you liked the film because I really want to check it out.

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