A rousing and pleasing buddy cop movie

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2018)

This review contains spoilers.
Hot Fuzz is a buddy cop action movie directed by Edgar Wright and written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. The movie stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the leading roles. A police constable named Nicholas Angel, played by Simon Pegg, is an overachieving officer in London. He is promoted to a remote village where the crime-rate is virtually non-existent. Throughout the movie, Nicholas Angel uncovers evidence of foul-play in Sandford, the remote village.
Hot Fuzz is another cult classic movie from Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost. This movie owes many homages from older buddy. cop movies. The entire movie is made by people that enjoy these movies as well as wanting to create something new in that genre. This movie is made by the admirers of the buddy cop genre and it really shows.
Edgar Wright Knocks it out of the park with the direction and editing. The movie is similar to Shaun of the Dead with its quick cuts and overall direction. This is good as the direction also plays to the movie's strengths of the mysterious Sandford and the hilarious neighborhood. This is a fairly lengthy movie compared to Shann of the Dead at 121 minutes of running time. There are absolutely more story events, and characters. This works in the film's favor as many of the movie's entertaining moments are aided by the length. The movie's introduction of the Neighborhood Watch Alliance leads to many funny moments later in the movie.
Much like Shaun of the Dead, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play partners in the police force of Sandford. These two actors have good chemistry and it is different from Shaun of the Dead. Nick Frost plays Police Constable Daniel "Danny" Butterman. Danny Butterman is a buffoon and not suited to police work. He has an infatuation with buddy cop movies and it shows throughout the movie. These two characters handle much of the boredom in the countryside of Sandford. The interaction between these two characters are so fun to watch that I am glad the movie was as long as it was.
The rest of the cast does a great job as well. The highlight is Timothy Dalton playing Simon Skinner. Simon Skinner is so fun to watch as the grocery store owner constantly harassing Nicholas Angel in his investigations. This character is introduced and is handled so well throughout the entire running time that I enjoyed every moment that he was on the screen. Simon Skinner's slimyness is reflected incredibly well by Timothy Dalton.
The plot of the movie is at a great level. There is a mystery in Sandford and the revelation is well worth it. The mystery's revelation had me in stitches as Nicholas Angel, came up with much better reasons for the murders than the culprits did. That entire scene is worth the build-up for the entire movie. If there are any weaknesses in the movie it would be the slow build-up.
The movie does not feature many action scenes. This is narratively appropriate but the trailers make the movie more action-packed than it really is. On multiple watches, this movie's lack of action does not bother me as much as it did at first. There is still a lengthy action scene at the very end where every trope from buddy cop action movies is used.
I highly recommend Hot Fuzz. Not only is this movie a great homage, but it is also a great movie.
Grade: A