Fun follow-up to "Shaun of the Dead".

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2012)

Director / co-writer Edgar Wright, star / co-writer Simon Pegg, and co-star Nick Frost turn their attention to a new series of genres with this similarly engaging send-up: mostly, the buddy-cop movie, although it also functions as a murder mystery and even has a feel of the slasher movie at times. Pegg is wonderful as Nicholas Angel, a young man fiercely dedicated to law and order, even when it has cost him the love of a woman. His bosses tire of him, realizing he's so damn good he makes everyone else look bad, so they pack him off to a small country village named Sandford. Angel's keen eye for suspicious detail leads him to believe that there's a mad plot underneath the tranquil surface of this supposedly peaceable community. He makes friends with local officer Danny Butterman (Frost), who becomes his partner through thick and thin as the bodies pile up and the blood splatters everywhere. Wright gives the movie a great over the top feeling, what with the various gruesome and outrageous methods devised to knock off characters. Now, the movie does go on just a bit long, and "ends" more than once. This prevents it from being as much fun as it could and should have been, but it's impossible to dislike a movie that pays such earnest homage to the classic corpse littered action escapism of the 1980's and 1990's, with references to "Supercop", "Silent Rage", "Lethal Weapon", "Die Hard", etc., and points out the joys of jumping sideways while firing a gun with each hand. The references to "Point Break" are particularly delicious. And that's not to mention the absolute necessity of coming up with a witticism when messily dispatching a bad guy. There's another absolute joy to the proceedings, in seeing scores of people who aren't exactly young handling all manner of weapons. Also, if you've ever thrilled to scenes of "preparing for battle" seen in favourites like "Commando", you get treated to that sort of thing here. Pegg is both hilarious & endearing in the lead, with very nice support by the likable Frost. It's delightful to see a whole bunch of distinguished British acting veterans actually having a real ball with the material, including Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Paul Freeman, Stuart Wilson, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Rafe Spall, Edward Woodward, and Kenneth Cranham (with Cate Blanchett, Steve Coogan, Peter Jackson, and director Wright making uncredited cameos). Dalton in particular is a total hoot. The characters are never less than entertaining, and the movie does have a definite wild energy and a lot of flashy cutting. The soundtrack is cool and there are a respectable amount of laughs to be had in watching this clever comedy, which does have some fine character moments amid all of the murderous mayhem. Seven out of 10.