Hot Fuzz (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]

       In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun.

Comment:
    Hot Fuzz After Shaun of the Dead, the writer/director/actor trio of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost came up with this new comedy that does for cop movies what Shaun did for zombie flicks. As before Wright directs a script written by himself and Pegg, and Pegg and Frost star. Pegg plays Nick Angel, a London cop so dedicated and efficient he starts to skew the statistics away from his less motivated colleagues. He soon finds himself transferred to Sandford, a tiny little rural village on the books with the lowest crime rate in England. Angel is understandably miffed by this, especially when partnered with the local police chief's son (Frost), who's a likable lunkhead. Shortly after his arrival, though, gruesome deaths start occurring. Angel is sure it's murder, but everyone else in town thinks the deaths are accidental. Angel becomes determined to solve the crimes no matter how many toes he must step on. This very funny movie manages to walk a very fine line: it spoofs American action movies hilariously but never stops being British. It does, however, come by its R rating very honestly, with rampant profanity and some very gory murders. The violence is as over the top as it was in Shaun of the Dead, but with that same matter of fact/deadpan tone that pushes it past icky into icky-but-funny. (kind of like the gore in a Monty Python movie) And what a cast the boys have in support this time: Timothy Dalton (2 time 007), Edward Woodward (The Wicker Man-1973), a couple of unidentifiable but hilarious celebrity cameos, and briefly, Martin Freeman (The Office-British version). If you enjoy English humor or thought Shaun of the Dead was fun, definitely check this one out.