Americas make the Action. The British make fun-and do it better

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2007)

I discovered Shaun of the Dead a few years after it was released and it is one of my favourite films so I had very high hopes for this film. I have a habit of getting so excited about a film it turns out to be such a let down in the cinema - see X3 and Eragon for a reference so as much as I was excited about Hot Fuzz to be honest I was expecting to be let down badly.
How wrong was I.
This film deserves to be more of a cult classic than Shaun of the Dead. It is def one of the best comedies that I have ever seen.
It is hard to know where to start when you are reviewing a film that you have to look really hard to find a flaw in........
It took almost every action movie cliché, and completely took the mickey clean out of it, and what made it funnier is that they played it straight.
There are so many lines and scenes that will be memorable for a long time, the fence scene, the cornetto scene (both parodying their last film), anything involving the swan, the Andies and the rest of the police staff. I thought that the cast singing The Cardigans "Love Me" at the end of Romeo and Juliet was priceless. One of the biggest laughs came from the Bill Baily revelation at the end of the movie.
The gun fight in the supermarket was fantastic. Andy yelling in pain because he got the dolmio sauce on him and the other Andy got mad as he thought he got shot was hilarious. The whole did you say anything conversation between Danny & Angel when Angel put Lurch in the freezer was probably the best exchange between the two and completely mocks crappy cheesy one liners after a battle, although it could never beat Ripleys "Stay away from her you b*tch!" from Aliens The "backdraft" line has got to be the funniest off screen line since Bill Murray in Ghostbusters yelling "the flowers are still standing!" when he was messing around with the table clothes in the hotel whilst the others were trying to capture slimer The homo erotic subtext through out the film "I won it for you" was probably the funniest thing throughout the whole movie. Michael Bay will probably wishes that he had played the relationship between the cops in Bad Boys 2 in an ironic way.
I loved the product placement of vodafone when Angel was travlleling to the village. Nomally in American films it is the latest flashy car or watch but here apart from vodafone we had cornetto (if you would call that product placement), special K and Dolmeo.
I have never felt the need to comment on the lighting of a movie before but I though that the way Danny & Angels faces were light up bright red during the opening the boot scene was like the scene from Road Kill where the brothers and Venna open the boot to find the CB radio - although most people will say that it is a Tarintino moment. Also Angel going into the shop and setting the cash down on the table also reminded me of Road Kill to. The other brilliant lighting moment was when the neighbourhood watch people were sitting around with their torches and they all turned and shined them on Angel, and he was perfectly lit up. I think that this is making fun of scenes in movies where candles can light up a whole room.
I also loved the fact that there was a dramatic montage of the police officers filling up the evidence room with all the but guns etc only to have the usual lets get the big guns out montage which is usually found in cop movies - see Bad Boys and Miami Vice.
There was one overly gross out killing (reporter) and one jump out of your seat moment (danny suddenly appearing after the hotel fight with Lurch) but because these were so unexpected they were brilliant.
If i had to pick a flaw, it would be the overly loud slamming of doors etc. This was annoying the first few times but you got used to it.
Although it mocked action movies the action in it was nothing to be ashamed of and was probably more exciting the anything Michar Bay could come up with. I think that because Pegg and Frost are not big, fit, over muscled, American cops it made the shoot out so much better.
Anyway this is clearly an overlong and rambling review so I would give it a 10/10. Americans bring the action. The British take the P!ss and come out on top.