'high octane' police buddy movie

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2007)

like Shaun of the Dead this is really a feature length Spaced special, but there's nothing wrong with that. Perhaps not as well paced as Shaun, Hot Fuzz is still a brilliant, action-packed, funny and engaging film. A great mixture of Hollywood blockbuster and English wit and irony. There are lots of references to other films and TV shows, half the fun is trying to spot them and the many famous actors in relatively small roles (was that Eric Idle as the amateur Romeo?). It also contains the best (if not only) use of a model village in any film I've seen. Redolent of the Wicker Man in places (not least for Edward Woodward's presence) but with less emphasis on the horror/suspense, the film is still relatively gory - lots of lingering shots of corpses and severed heads. Not sure whether this will be as big as Shaun was all over the world - the boys in blue probably don't translate as well as zombies do into the American consciousness - but it was heart warming to see a 'proper' film chase scene in British panda cars.