Here come the Fuzz!

Rating: 9/10 (21 August 2007)

'Hot Fuzz,' "a new comedy from the guys that created 'Shaun of the Dead,'" is a side-splitting entry to the buddy-cop action-com genre, which last saw its box office peak with 2003's 'Bad Boys II.' The film works as both an homage to past cop actioners  including 'Dirty Harry,' 'Lethal Weapon,' and most notably 'Point Break' and the aforementioned 'BBII'  and as its own intelligible whodunit account, packed with well-written characters, constant laughs, witty dialogue, and a non-stop twenty-minute gun-slinging finale that'll leave you salivating for more.
Pegg is dealt the role of Nicholas Angel, a London Metropolitan Police Officer, whose dedication and hard work have led to his transfer to London's quite, crime-free countryside village of Sandford. After expressing his displeasure, regarding the transfer, to the Metro Police Service's Chief of Police (Bill Nighy), Angel learns that his reassignment has already been finalized, and finds himself in Sandford by nightfall. Upon arrival, Angel quickly establishes his seriousness about eradicating any and all criminal activity, including the under-aged consumption of alcohol  which has otherwise gone unnoticed or ignored by the village's populace.
Time slowly ticks away for Angel as he finds his most thrilling assignment yet to be the pursuit of a winged escapee (a swan), which he tracks alongside partnered police constable Danny Butterman (Nick Frost, 'Shaun of the Dead'). Over the course of his brief, couple week stint as a Sandford police officer, Angel finds his only friend to be, in reality, Danny, son of Sandford's Chief Inspector Frank Butterman. Though Danny's good intentions seem outweigh his clumsiness as an officer, Nicholas finds him to be quite the annoyance and relishes the moments in which Danny is not bombarding him with silly questions about things that are often insignificant. Nonetheless, after a few beers, the two bond over Nick's past field-action experiences as one of London's finest, and, of course, action movies from Danny's wall-covering collection.
Soon enough, the two movie buddies and partnering officers, along with the whole village of Sandford, are beset by a string of sequential "accidents" which have claimed the lives of a handful of its inhabitants. Convinced that these incidents are, in fact, more than just accidents, Sergeant Angel catches much ridicule from the townspeople and colleagues, most noticeably the "Andys," detectives Andrew Cartwright (Rafe Spall) and Andrew Wainwright ('The Bourne Ultimatum''s Paddy Considine). When Angel's most promising suspect, Sandford's local Somerfield supermarket owner, Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton), arises, the Sergeant does everything in his power to bring him down. But when Angel is proved to be unsure about his prime suspect, and without any facts or evidence to support his theory, he puts his own safety, and that of his fellow officer, Danny, at risk.
Written by Pegg and director Edgar Wright (both of 2004's 'Shaun'), 'Fuzz' capitalizes on its assumption that any film -even one as absurd as 'HF' - can find monstrous success riding on the back of a dexterously constructed line of characters and a simple, yet brainy script. However, this film surpassed just any level of cleverness, integrating small fixtures within its deftly-crafted main story. Guided by the direction and crafty hand of Wright, and propelled by the hysterical performances of previous collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, 'Hot Fuzz' makes for this year's biggest surprise and pre-summer's most enjoyable film. Brace yourself, "here come the Fuzz."