THATFILMGUY

[pullquote cite=”” type=”left, right”][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00ET6K40C][/pullquote] They say mockery is the sincerest form of flattery. So I wonder what Michael Bay thinks of Hot Fuzz, which so heavily draws upon his films for inspiration. A tongue-in-cheek homage to the director famous for Armageddon, Bad Boys and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It seems to be an experiment by director Edgar Wright to try and make the classic ˜British Bobby’ into a sexy action hero. They almost succeed and do it better than most action films have in recent memory.

Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a police officer in London who gets sent packing to the countryside because his ruthless efficiency is making everyone else look bad. So he packs up his life and moves to Sandford where, like any good ˜super cop’ he brushes away the rural crime in lightning quick time. Whilst there, he befriends local PC, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) and together they begin to unravel a conspiracy that potentially implicates high-ranking member of the community Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton) with murder.

Hot Fuzz has all the hallmarks of a Wright, Pegg and Frost film. There are quick cuts, fast pacing and lots of very funny jokes. Pegg shows off his range of acting ability to make Angel a ˜by-the-book’ kind of character, limiting his likeability, but also allowing the equally talented Frost to steal the show with his portrayal of loveable dimwit Danny. It is their relationship that forms the backbone of all the action and gun-play and it’s as powerful and heart-warming as anything they’ve accomplished before.

There are obvious comparisons to be made between Hot Fuzz and the previous work of the trio, even including a blink-and-you’ll miss-it Shaun of the Dead DVD in the bargain bin at the supermarket. Whilst it lacks the complete experience of Shaun, mainly due to a baggy final third, the jokes are just as funny (maybe funnier) and the film tears along at a fast pace until the mock ˜Bayhem’ begins. They have an incredible knack for taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary, and in this ˜Midsomer Murders meets Die Hard‘ they almost nail it perfectly.

So with nods to Bay’s penchant for shooting action at twilight, plus his almost pornographic love for guns and cars, Wright and company even go the whole hog and dedicate the majority of the final act of Hot Fuzz to one long action sequence. It is this ˜gun battle’ that really lets the film down (as it often does in Michael Bay films), but the rest is sharper, better paced and a lot funnier than anything the Hollywood behemoth has ever put out on general release.

Thomas Patrick