Buddy cop movie on speed meets Midsomer Murders - Hot Fuzz the Swan and the Mine

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2007)

The icons of hot fuzz are many and varied but are all attention-grabbing. Certainly, if they don't grab your attention during their first pass they quickly come to mind during the many "oh, so that's why they did it that way" moments that this film provides. It's unusual to derive humor from words like "fascist" and "hag" but Hot Fuzz has no problem with this at all.
The swan symbolizes all that is bucolic and rural in sleepy Sandford and is for a time, albeit short, the height of the crime wave, the mine the eccentricity of the farmer-arms dealer and the vignettes of destruction that splatter the second half of the work. But even the swan "comes through" in this wild and frenetic pastiche-laden comedy. The target of the send up: police movies and especially the buddy-buddy types. Instead of Turner and Hooch think Angel and Butterman. The movie starts in a peaceful Cabot Cove way but explodes towards the end in adrenaline-soaked mayhem but unlike some films that poke fun through a series of unrelated scenes in the style of Airplane, this film throughout retains a plot, even though it is at times a little incredulous, and sometimes a little hard to stomach. Even if you don't pick up the references to other action flicks there is a lot to enjoy in the film which at times swerves erratically between genres such as murder-mystery, partner cops action, horror and suspense and laugh-out loud comedy. Other commentators have referred to this as a roller coaster ride, which it surely is and one that leaves you feeling pretty breathless at the end of it. The super cop team of Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman take us on a wild ride with laughter and suspense at every twist and the reasons behind the accident/murders are just so over-the-top that you just can't help laughing even though the dispatching is more than a little gory.
All in all, one of the best laughs I've had in the cinema for a long time. Go and see it!