Hot Fuzz

 

I wasn’t one of the acolyte’s of ‘Shaun of the Dead’, I found it entertaining, with some very funny sequences but it wasn’t much more than an extended ‘Spaced‘ episode. Still, the boys behind both ‘Shaun’ and ‘Spaced’ know their movies which gets them a tick mark in Minty’s book, and they’re back with Hot Fuzz, a distinctly British take on the action movie genre which is tag-lined as ‘An episode of Heartbeat directed by Tony Scott’.

   

Pegg is Nicholas Angel, the Met’s rising star whose arrest records are embarrassing his superiors in the capital. He is dispatched to the sleepy west country village of Sandford by Bill Nighy (who it seems is mandatory in an English film, he’s taken on the mantle that Rhys Ifans had a few years ago) where the escape of the village swan is considered a serious incident. Gradually, the veneer of the town disintegrates as Angel investigates a series of gruesome accidents and uncovers the town’s dark secret……

    

It’s rare to find an intentionally funny film these days and this has it’s moments - it’s worth seeing, but don’t rush out to catch it at the cinema. It’s certainly half an hour too long and the adrelinine fuelled finale seems incongruous against the previous material. There are some sly nods and references to ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘Straw Dogs’ and many other cult pictures which will ingratiate it with film nerds such as yours truly, along with some mainstream slapstick and sight gags which will keep the proles content.

Curiously, I saw Nick Frost in Twickenham last week, coming out of a newsagents. He didn’t have a Corneto though. He must live in the area as it’s the second time I’ve seen him out and about. The obligatory link to the Guardian Q&A here.

~ by mintyblonde on February 21, 2007.