One might argue that anyone who spends a significant amount of time obsessing over movies like Point Break and Bad Boys needs to reexamine his or her priorities. After all, those two films have less cinematic influence than something along the lines of Gone With the Wind. But somehow, knowing that the two movies were seminal to the makers of Hot Fuzz does little to discredit the film or its auteurs, Shaun of the Dead scribes Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg; in fact, the idea that Point Break and Bad Boys could influence anyone at all serves as a lift to the shrewd send-up of the action-comedy genre.
As in Shaun, Pegg takes a principle role in Hot Fuzz, this time as Nicholas Angel, a London police officer with unabashed enthusiasm for his job; this mix of valor and vigor worries the London brass that all the other officers look foolish in comparison. The jealous coworkers promote Angel to sergeant but transfer him to the supposedly quiet countryside town of Sandford, where he’s matched with indifferent superiors and an incompetent partner (Nick Frost as Danny) who wishes his job were more like the cop stories he sees in the aforementioned action flicks. When Sandford turns out to be the home of a devious murder plot, though, Nick and Danny must combine their…ahem…”expertise” to bring down the bad guy.
For the majority of the film, the action unfolds slowly, skewering our guilty love for the likes of Bad Boys by keeping that kind of silly action at arm’s length – Danny’s enthusiasm for the genre is to be seen as a pratfall because he’ll never see that much action in Sandford. But the third act of the film is a loving tribute to its predecessors; it’s got as much action as any of the Die Hard franchises but is made even better because it’s all in a sly, gently mocking tone. Rarely is there a fatality without a well-considered quip that makes Pegg look like Clint Eastwood.
Pegg and Wright pack the script with pitch-perfect humor, and Wright paces the ordeal quite well. The duo also underline the action with a techno-metal-rock soundtrack that keeps your heart thumping as much as your eardrums. Pegg, meanwhile, leads a stellar principal cast that is highlighted by extremely funny cameos from quality actors like Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy. With so much talent on screen, Hot Fuzz is a shoe-in to become the British version of Lethal Weapon. The best part is that it’s good enough to earn a spot on stateside DVD shelves right alongside Gibson and Glover.
Rating: * * * * of 5