Rating of
3.5/4
"Hot Fuzz" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/21/12
Nicholas Angel is such a good cop, he's shipped off to the most law-abiding village in the country to stop him showing up the rest of the force. This brilliant pastiche of the Hollywood action movie is brought to you by the same team as Shaun Of The Dead, and has the same mix of silly one-liners, slapstick and spoofery. Transferring all of the familiar action cliches and plot devices to rural England was a masterstroke, and Pegg's obvious love of cult film and TV offers up a wealth of targets for homages, from Bad Boys II to The Stepford Wives to The Wicker Man. In many ways, Simon Pegg is the Quentin Tarantino of British film comedy; there are so many throwaway gags that it'll take multiple viewings to spot them all and I'm sure that the majority of the film references will be lost on a lot of people, and so may it not be appreciated for just how clever it is. This may not have the comedy zombies that enjoy so much affection from the cinema-going public, but the fact is that from one movie lover to another, Pegg has created a much more complete and funnier film in Hot Fuzz. And to anyone who remembers his sitcom Spaced; episode 3 featured comedy zombies, episode 4 was a action movie pastiche revolving around paintballing. So if his next movie is a multi-million dollar extravaganza about the kidnapping of a small scottie terrier named Colin, do not be surprised!
