Possibly Better Than The Previous Pegg Effort

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2013)

PC Nicolas Angel finds himself transferred to the sleepy English town of Sandford . This coincides with a series of mysterious deaths and PC Angel becomes convinced that these deaths are not accidents but a murder campaign
This is the follow up hit to SHAUN OF THE DEAD , a horror comedy that became a big international hit but a film I personally found uninvolving . HOT FUZZ is a much more satisfying amalgam of urban cop moved to a rural setting along with blackly comical events happening to the inhabitants that eventually mutates in to full blown horror comedy . Perhaps the fact that you're expecting a far more conventional cop thriller / whodunnit mixed in with the humour works in its favour ? Certainly the final third seems at odds with what's gone before and this shouldn't be taken as a criticism
The major disappointment is with the cast which on paper is very impressive featuring well regarded character actors as Considine , Dalton , Woodward , Whitelaw and Cranham . In truth they're superfluous and unknowns could have easily been cast since they aren't given a lot to work with . Not surprisingly either because this is a comedy star vehicle for Simon Pegg
As a footnote the fictional town of Sandford also received a name check in the opening pre-title sequence of 28 WEEKS LATER that was released at the same time and one wonders if this merely coincidence or if British film makers are required to use a mythical name of Sandford in order to receive filming permission for rural towns