Movie Review - Hot Fuzz (2007)

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are possibly the ones here to take the baton from the classic parody-makers of the past...like those responsible for Airplane, Hot Shots, The Naked Gun, and the rest of all those over-the-top comedies. After the success of their earlier zombie flick spoof, Shaun of the Dead, these two visionaries decided to break ground in a different area altogether: the action movie scene.

Hot Fuzz is the story of the top-of-his-class London police sergeant Nicholas Angel who gets transferred to the police force in a tiny, quaint village for being "too good" for the London force, as odd as that may sound. Despite dealing with some minor acts of deviance, Sergeant Angel can't really find anything to do in the town--the recipient of Safest Village in the Country for however many consecutive years. Needless to say, the police force he works for is less than interested in fighting crime (which includes his lethargic new partner he befriends as well), and is doubtful of Sergeant Angel's claims that some serious crimes are starting to unfold in this otherwise quiet village.

What makes this movie so great for me personally is the perfect blend of humor and action that really take a stab at a good smattering of the action movies out there. The insanely epic gunfights, acrobatic moves, and cool factor of the heroes are a jab at the more off-the-wall action franchises of the past like Die Hard, Rambo, Dirty Harry, Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, and so many single movies as well that are sure to elude even some of us who think we're afficiandos in the area of action movies. Take caution, though....this is by no means the artsy-fartsy movie you might somehow think it is (I would imagine one look at the poster above would have you convinced it wasn't). This movie is a pure guilty pleasure meant for nothing else but to laugh at and just plain enjoy for the dialog and gunfights and stuff. If that's all you're looking for, though, look no further. This movie is a thrill ride in every overused sense of the word, and it's one of the few movies I could potentially watch again and again until the disc very well breaks.