Mmm, it was alright

Rating: 6/10 (28 February 2007)

Let me start by saying i love Spaced and Shaun of the Dead, both of which i've seen many many times on DVD (even got Spaced signed by the cast and Edgar) so you can understand my excitement on watching Hot Fuzz.
Now i'm home after watching at the cinema both my wife and i thought it was alright. Nothing more. Don't get me wrong, i can think of worse ways of spending 2 hours but it just didn't feel as _sharp_ as shaun.
The best thing about Shaun is it's multi-layered. You can watch it again and again and spot things you missed the first time around. It credits you with a brain and lets you work things out for yourself. Hot Fuzz feels the need to help you along by using constant ghost voice overs reminding you of specific dialogue at salient points.
I think i was just expecting more from it, i was waiting to see slow-mo shoot outs in the village hall, fast cutting one-on-one shoot outs. Walking away from explosions with shotguns over their shoulder. There seemed to be none of that.
Although there were laughs, they weren't belly laughs. Anyone who watched Shaun will remember them bashing a zombie with pool cues in time to 'Don't Stop Me Know' will smile to themselves. It was more humorous with a couple of in jokes to older Wright-Pegg material. I don't think i actually laughed loudly once during the whole movie.
It also seemed to be for a larger audience. Shaun was cult through and through. It paid homage to so many zombie movies it was hard to keep count and some of them were so subtle it was hard to spot without multiple viewings (Foree Electronics anyone?). Hot Fuzz seemed more generic and tried to be a movie in itself rather than paying homage to anything specific, although i did spot the Lethal Weapon reference quite clearly.
So there we have it, it was amusing, but not funny. There was action, but you have to wait a while for it. And some of the characters seemed to be there just for the sake of getting someone famous in. I've never seen Bill Bailey so underused in anything in my life.
It was alright