It seems to
me that some of the best, or at least the most enthusiastic, filmmakers are
film buffs themselves. Quentin Tarantino could tell you who did the lighting on
every Western ever made and Martin Scorsese knows film preservation like Carl
Sagan knows about outer space. British writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright know
their zombie movies, hence the making of “Shaun of the Dead” in 2004. Since
they also methodically watched action movie ever made, they teamed up again in
2007 for “Hot Fuzz,” which referenced everything from “Point Break” to “Bad
Boys II.”
I saw this
movie with the perfect crowd for a movie made by action movie fans: other movie
fans. It was part of a double feature organized by the film club at the
University of Sherbrooke, and of course the other film was “Shaun of the Dead.”
I am pretty sure somebody cheered when Nick Frost opens a door to reveal a room
full of DVDs. Lets face it, if you’re not a movie nerd, it doesn’t seems like a
very good idea to spend your hard-earned money on titles like “Missing in
Action II” starring a young Chuck Norris, but I know people who not only have
bought such movies but have made oral presentations about it. I guess it’s a
guy thing, but Pegg and Wright added enough humour in their script to attract
both men and women.
“Hot Fuzz”
stars Pegg as police officer Nicolas Angel, the best copper in all of London. In
fact, he is so good that his superior Inspector Kenneth (Bill Nighy, who was
also in “Shaun of the Dead”) decides he needs to be relocated because he is
making the rest of the officers look bad. To his dismay Nicolas is relocated to
the village of Sandford, which local Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent)
informs him is the safest village in the country.
Angel’s
partner in Sandford is Butterman’s son Danny (Nick Frost, frequent co-star of
Pegg) who is fascinated by Angel’s experience with actual crime. He has a room
full of action movies you can buy for cheap at convenience stores, and
constantly asks Angel if he has ever done anything like what he has seen in
those films. Angel tells him real police work is all about gathering evidence
and keeping your eyes out for suspicious activities, not running around firing
your gun while jumping through the air.
But of
course, everything Danny has seen on screen will eventually happen in his life,
for this is after all a movie made by people who love action movies. Even
though Sandford is a small town, there is something definitely wrong going on
beneath the surface. Several citizens begin to suffer gruesome deaths that all
look like accidents, but Nicolas correctly suspects murder. His colleagues mock
him for seeing crime where there is nothing, but Danny believes him and they
begin to unravel a conspiracy that points to the owner of the town’s supermarket,
Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton). Not the subtlest name for a villain, but then
again the bad guy in “The Expendables 2” is called Jean Vilain and you can be
sure Danny would have loved that movie.
It takes a
little too long for Nicholas and Danny to uncover the conspiracy and convince
the other officers in Sandford, but once they do, the shit hits the proverbial
fan. Director Wright joyfully unleashes every cliché in the action movie book.
From the moment Nicholas rides into town on a horse with shotguns strapped to
his back to the final car chase with the bad guys, we get gun fights, fist
fights, explosions, guys firing their guns while jumping through the air, and
stupid puns said after shooting someone: “You’re a doctor. Deal with it…motherfucker!”
When “Hot
Fuzz” came out, I remember film critic Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper saying
he never thought he would see the day “Bad Boys II” would influence people.
True, that movie was vulgar, crass, and not very smart, but man did it kick
ass. Now, if someone takes the best action bits from that movie, injects a lot
of self-aware comedy in the script, and hires actors who just want to have a
good time while making a good movie, you get “Hot Fuzz.” Can’t wait to see what
genre Pegg and Wright will tackle next.
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