“Well, I wouldn’t argue that it wasn’t a no holds barred, adrenaline fueled thrill ride. But, there is no way you can perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork,” said Nicholas Angel in the movie Hot Fuzz, pretty much summing up the film itself. Hot Fuzz is definitely a high-octane thrill ride, plus the massive amount of paper work.
The comedy Hot Fuzz follows Nicholas, a highly trained police officer, as he is moved from London to a small quiet village. Thinking it will be all bores and no chores, he quickly realizes that something is not quite right about the town and starts to do what he was trained to do, fight crime.
Nicholas is a by the book police officer who does everything with precision and makes sure the law is strictly obeyed. No exceptions. After meeting his partner at the police station, Danny Butterman (a huge fan of action movies), all of that changes.
Following many of the best comedies that make parodies of serious movies such as Young Frankenstein, Airplane! and Naked Gun, Hot Fuzz spoofs the entire action genre. Everything you want in an action movie is there. Car chases, explosions, cheesy one liners and of course someone jumping in the air sideways while shooting two guns.
Aside being a well-crafted parody the movie is a nicely composed comedy. The actors have the comedic timing down to the beat. In one scene, Danny and Nicholas are discussing how Nicholas is too focused on his job. So focused that he lost his marriage. The actors set the scene and build it up to make it seem that Danny is coming on to Nicholas like they’re on a date. It gets to a point where Nicholas says he doesn’t think he can ever not think about his job and Danny replies to him saying that he can help him with that. Because of the ‘this is awkward’ expression on Nicholas’ face we think that Danny is going to try and make a move on Nicholas. But he doesn’t; he reveals his huge collection of action movies.
Another element that the film does quite well is visual style. You can tell by their distinct visual style that people who made Shaun of the Dead made Hot Fuzz. Here’s a short run down on their style. To add energy and visual excitement to some of the scenes the cuts are quickly introduced with a whoosh sound made right on a sound effect.
An example is when Danny and Nicholas get in their car to chase the antagonist. The action of the driver starting the car, putting it into gear and driving off is shown with quick cuts to each step of the process. First there’s a whoosh sound then immediately after the whoosh it cuts to a different shot right on a sound effect.
If you like action movies and want some laughs for about two hours then go see Hot Fuzz. Some of the humor I did not understand (maybe because its British humor), but the rest of the movie was quite entertaining. It may be too cheesy for some, but if you enjoy some off-the-wall, slap shtick humor then Hot Fuzz will be right for you