Got Fuzz? Hot Fuzz Movie Review

Ah, the American action movie. Countless movies have parodied them, some successful, some downright awful. Now leave it to our friends across the pond to pay their homage this year with their own version of the buddy cop movie infused with the ever so esoteric British humor. You either are gonna love it or hate it. My friend totally hated it, thinking it was all out action movie, which I said "was gonna be like Bad Boys 2". So it wasn't totally all out action, but had its merits. Hot Fuzz, brought to you by the guys who made Shaun of the Dead, contains some laugh out loud moments and an exhilarating over the top action finale, but those action lovers wanting non stop action from start to finish will be disappointed.

I'm a fan of all movie genres. More so the action, of course, but am willing to watch just about every kind of movie from all countries. I appreciate foreign cinema and their distinctive idiosyncracies: fromHong Kong with their penchant for well choreographed action, South Korea for their well done melodramas, Japan for their samurai and period flicks and the like, you get the idea. Then there's Thailand, France, Spain, Mexico and much more - just so much more in cinematic offerings than just Hollywood; I pity the fool who is complacent at watching the same unoriginal plot re-tread, clichés re-done, re-makes of wonderful foreign movies, and of course the ever utilized sequel that the big moneymaker studios in Hollywood keep on cranking out year after year to no avail. It's a never ending cycle I tell you. Name me one original movie coming out this summer. Time's up. You lose Dr. Jones.

Back to the topic at hand: one genre out there unmatched is that of British humor. Those who grew up watching those funny British shows on TV, Are you Being Served, The Red Green Show, Benny Hill, Little Britain, even less funny shows like Doctor Who will know that the British have their own brand of comedy and that won't click with a lot of people. Same goes for one genre I love, that's Hong Kong cinema, and sometimes the humor is out there, that it's kinda well, you just to see it I guess. Anyways Nicholas Angel is getting promoted from his job because he's so good, he's embarrassing the force. So he is transferred to the country village where he must face a possibly conspiracy of a cover-up in what appears to be an oh so innocent village that hasn't had a single crime commited in 20 years. Then someone turns up dead and the race is on. Teamed up with a country bumpkin cop and son of the police chief, Angel must make do with the resources he has to solve the citie's first murders in 20 years. All this of course is done in a deadpan way, but is successful in mixing several different genres into an overtly obvious homage to the American action movie by the time the final act starts rolling.

Am I spoiling you too much? Not a bit. Hot Fuzz is a departure from the standard generic movie and if that's what you were expecting, you're rightly wrong. It takes its time to slowly build up characters and the story and that does take a bit for the impatient before any real action takes place. Besides the subtle comedy, there is tons of action in the finale for the action fans, bits of grotesque horror for the horror lovers, and an actual air of mystery/conspiracy as the protgaonist starts unraveling this mystery. The movie is actually rated R for the random acts of violence that ensues with each murder. So ridiculous it made me laugh out loud. Think Final Destination set in a quaint little English village. Heh. I'm glad I saw it, as it was a nice departure from the norm. I might need to see Point Break and Bad Boys II again to refresh my mind. Woo-sah! Get you some Hot Fuzz! (Whatever that means!)