AllMovieGuide Synopsis:
by Jason Buchanan
A top London cop who is so good at his job that he makes his fellow officers look like slackers by comparison is "promoted" to serve in the sleepy village of Sandford in this contemporary action comedy from the creators of Shaun of the Dead. Police constable Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) always gets his man, but these days his impeccable record seems to be more indicative of his fellow officers' shortcomings than his own formidable skills as a keeper of the peace. Loathe to stand idly by as their once respectable track record is steadily soiled by the hyper-competent actions of one lone overachiever, Sergeant Angel's superiors at the Met soon determine to remedy their problem by relocating the decorated constable to the West Country village of Sanford -- where tranquil garden parties and neighborhood watch meetings stand in stark contrast to the violent crime and heated gunplay of the city. As Sergeant Angel does his best to adjust to the relative calm of his new environment, his oafish new partner Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) strives to gain the respect of his fellow constables while sustaining himself on fantasies of his favorite action films and police shows. Later, just as it begins to appear as if Sergeant Angel has been relegated to an uneventful existence in the relative calm of the countryside, a series of horrific "accidents" lead him to suspect that the tranquil hamlet of Sanford has fallen prey to a sinister plot which reeks of foul play. Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Steve Coogan, and Martin Freeman co-star in the Edgar Wright film.
In order to get ready for the US home video release of Spaced: The Complete Series, I rewatched Hot Fuzz and enjoyed it even more than I did last year.
Wright uses the hyper-montage stylings of Tony Scott not only as parody of that style, but uses it effectively to also further the story. The opening two minutes of the film is a quick-cut montage that successfully introduces Angell as a character. The killing of the theater director is also done in this quick manner. It is never too busy to not notice what is going on in the scene. It's as if Wright only has enough time to tell his story, so he effectively trims down to the neccessities the little pieces of the story that don't need a longer scene to get its point across. This is a parody of the Bruckheimer/Bay style of editing but Wright uses it to tell story instead of show off style. He shows us everything that we need to know and moves on.
I liked the bit when Angell pulls over the theater director for speeding. He writes down in his little book all of the director's "excuses", making the guy increasingly upset the more he writes. They end up having to go to the "homage of Romeo and Juliet" and it actually looks like a homage to Luhrman!
A nice mirror in the story is when Butterman is showing Angell "Bad Boys 2" and "Point Break". Will Smith says "Shit just got real!" as the film also shows the real murders (with explosions!) happening at the same time.
I also like that this film addresses that fact that there would be a "considerable amount of paperwork" for everything that transpires in your typical action film. I would love for once to see a film in which the cops have to second guess everything they do because they'll be a slave to their typewriter and a courtroom for the next five months. It would be nice to see a movie focusing on the aftermath of a huge cops/robbers city blowout, with the cops mired in paperwork and courtroom drama while the city has to clean up the mess.
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