I would have to class Simon Pegg as one of my favourite comedy actors at the moment. I'd loved Spaced, his channel 4 TV series and Shaun Of The Dead was one of the funniest films I've seen. So it was hardly surprising that when the adverts for Hot Fuzz came on at the cinema that I'd want to see that as well. Pegg was once again teaming up with Edgar Wright, the other brain behind Shaun Of The Dead and Spaced to create another British comedy. The problem with the adverts was whether they were showing all the comedy from the movie, as is usually the case, but there was only one way to find out. Go and see it.
Pegg takes the role of Sergeant Nicholas Angel, one of the top rated cops in London. Since he was a kid all he ever wanted to do was be a policeman. His determination has cost him his relationship and now his bosses are worried the fact he's so good at what he does is making the rest of the department look bad. With this in mind Angel is sent to the crime free town of Sandford in Gloucestershire. All is not as it seems in Sandford though and Angel seems to stumble across something that he doesn't feel is right and makes it his mission to find out what it is and why.
I had worried before going to see Hot Fuzz that the funniest bits would be in the advert but was glad that this wasn't the case. The idea Pegg and Wright came up with was to try and make British Cops look cool, in much the same way Hollywood does with the Americans. In a round about way they did succeed and as a result created a film that had me laughing most of the way through it. Most of the comedy within the film has been done before, many times, but Pegg and Wright seem to have come up with a way of making it still appeal to the audience.
I've only really come across Edgar Wright in his work with Simon Pegg but both Spaced and Shaun Of The Dead were very well done. So it's with no surprise that Hot Fuzz seems to have a similar style and approach from Wright. I thought the direction worked really well and with Wright aiding in the writing with Pegg it meant he was more capable of turning it into the film they both imagined. I've often thought that it is better to have the writer also direct the film it more often than not seems to backfire dramatically. In this case though Wright seems to be able to take on both roles very well.
The special effects look very impressive and under Wright's direction, in a similar vein to Shaun Of The Dead, the death scenes look fantastic. He creates an air of mystery around the village with certain camera angles and the concepts set out in their original script. In particular I thought the scene's around the model village and in the Summerfield's supermarket were particularly well done. It would seem that the writing combination of Pegg and Wright seems to create films that will make the audience laugh and are accessible enough that you can watch them more than once.
In most of the films and series Pegg has had a hand in writing he takes the main role and Hot Fuzz is no exception, He is a very good actor and really makes the part of Nicholas Angel his own. Of course it helps that Pegg wrote the main character to his strengths but he is a very good actor and I'm looking forward to seeing him appear in more films in the future. He also has a good on screen relationship with Nick Frost, who also starred in Shaun of the Dead. The two rekindle their partnership and once again it works very well for the style and comedy within the movie.
The addition of Timothy Dalton as the Summerfield owner Simon Skinner is also a fantastic choice. He fits the role perfectly and throughout there is something about him that the viewer simply can't trust. In fact just about the whole cast put in decent performances and I think in a film like this it is testament to Wright's directorial ability that the cast put in such assured performances. Of course with the rest of the cast made up of the likes of Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent and Steve Coogan it's hard to imagine many directors being able to fail.
Overall this is another example of Pegg and Wright trying to create a film that really makes people notice the British film industry. They've done a very good job and in both writing and direction this stands out for me as one of the best British films for a while. Like Shaun of the Dead it's a film that will withstand multiple viewings and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets better every time you see it. For fans of Spaced or Shaun Of The Dead this is a must see. It's a film that I would recommend to anyone, it's packed full of comedy moments and I for one will be buying it as soon as it's out on DVD.
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Soundtrack
Outstanding
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
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Film only
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