Midsomer Mayhem!

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2020)

I absolutely LOVED "Hot Fuzz", it's reminiscent of the quaint afternoon dramas that OAPs watch (such as "Heartbeat", "Midsomer Murders" and "Inspector Morse") but with insane action, comically over-the-top violence and curse words a-plenty thrown into the mix. The film is chock-full of fantastic British actors who all give hysterically funny performances, the script is surprisingly intelligent for a film that's this hilarious and the action sequences are both bonkers and thrilling. "Hot Fuzz" is more than a silly buddy comedy, it's one of my all-time favourite films!
"Hot Fuzz" is the first film directed by Edgar Wright that I saw and I still believe that it's his best one. Wright's direction here is excellent, the movie moves at a break-neck pace, meaning that there is never a dull or unentertaining moment. It explodes off the screen with an energetic personality that perfectly blends the setting of a relaxing evening drama with uproariously gory action set-pieces.
Calling the cast in "Hot Fuzz" star-studded is a massive understatement. Simon Pegg (who's one of my favourite actors) is as phenomenal as ever in the role of determined police officer, Nicolas Angle, I'm sorry ANGEL. Nick Frost is equally likeable as Angel's partner on the Sandford police service, Danny Butterman, who provides many of the movie's best references and one-liners.
It's staggering how many great actors are in the supporting cast in "Hot Fuzz", I would like to praise them all individually, but if I did, this review would be 7,000 words long, so I'll just list some of them. Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Timothy Dalton, Olivia Colman, Steve Coogan, Paul Freeman, Stephen Merchant and David Bradley all appear in this film (wow, the casting director deserves a round of applause!) But that's not all, Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson even make cameo appearances here!
From deadpan deliveries to riotous mockeries of action movie tropes, "Hot Fuzz" excels in every area of comedy. Not a single joke fell flat and even if you find one gag annoying, the movie barrels along so quickly that you'll probably being laughing at the next joke almost immediately. "Hot Fuzz" is probably the smartest comedy I've ever seen, almost every line of dialogue has an amusing and satisfying pay-off later on in the film (meaning that I'll need to re-watch it quite a lot to pick up on all of the clever gags.)
Some action-comedies pride themselves on their comedic moments but lack noteworthy action sequences, thankfully "Hot Fuzz" isn't one of those films. Despite some intentional shaky-cam, the action in "Hot Fuzz" is a joy to behold, it's stylised, captivating and very, very bloody! What makes the action here even more incredible is that most of the first two-thirds of this movie is very light on traditional action, but then the film goes completely bonkers in the third act and becomes a non-stop adrenaline ride in which the two leads are thrown into an all-out battle with the villains. I don't want to spoil who the antagonists are, but let me just say, the hilarity increases exponentially when they appear on screen!
In conclusion, "Hot Fuzz" is simply amazing! It's an ingenious lampoon of blow-out action spectaculars and murder mysteries told in a side-splitting and immensely enjoyable way. I loved every single second of it!