…go see “Hot Fuzz,” the newest film from the creators of “Shawn of the Dead.”
An absolutely brilliant send-up of police action films, it tells the tale of Nick Angel (Simon Pegg of “Shawn”) who’s a hyperefficient London supercop reassigned to the British countryside because he’s making everyone else on the force look bad in comparison. In the sleepy town of Sanford where there hasn’t been a violent crime in twenty years, it’s figured that Angel will be nicely tucked away. But when the bodies start piling up in a series of increasingly unlikely “accidents,” Angel is drawn into an involved conspiracy in a town where (in classic tradition) nothing is as it seems.
Much better film than SM3, honestly. Rated “R” for some explicit gore and profanity (mostly by people witnessing the gore.)
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Also, for some reason, it took me a while to realize that Martin Freeman was Tim in the British version of The Office. Of course, it also took me a while to realize that the skinny comic relief pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean was Gareth.
Interesting that the only complaints that I’ve read about this film was that it wasn’t violent enough, the bumbling son of the Sanford’s chief inspector came off as a bad guy before he inexplicably turned good again, and there were too many false endings.
Regarding the first, I strongly agree that the lead character was trying to subdue the conspirators without killing them in cold blood. Regarding the second, I interpreted those scenes as the son having a crisis of conscience regarding his father being the ringleader and choosing between his loyalty to the town and “doing the right thing.” As for the third, show me a comedy with a formula ending and I’ll show you a boring comedy. “Hot Fuzz” was DEFINITELY not boring, even during the “quiet moments.”
I was hesitant to see “Shaun of the Dead” because it promoted itself as a cross between “Evil Dead” and “Scary Movie,” two films that I was less than thrilled with. After reading the earlier comments, I just might rent it this weekend.