Hot Fuzz

Edgar Wright mightily kicks Michael Bay’s ass, burying all conventions and correctness under tons of unique ideas, and leaving the diabolical Simon Pegg to mow down his enemies in an even more uncompromising manner than Bruce Willis in his prime. The film is a unique demonstration that properly referenced, honored, or parodied genre fiction can royally entertain. Unfortunately, this creates an unpleasant issue on the way to the viewer's heart, which may be ordinary ignorance of film action. It’s a simple equation: the more classic films you've seen, the more fun you'll have. (13/05/2007)

Who you gonna call when Bad Boys don’t know what to do? Nobody better than Simon Pegg and Nick Frost... After Shaun of the Dead, the Wright/Pegg duo is back and this time they poke fun at crime movies, buddy movies and action movies of all kinds. Basically, all the positive ingredients from Shaun can be found in Hot Fuzz too. Unfortunately this also applies to the negative aspects. One of the main pluses of this movie is that it really is funny - which cannot be said about every comedy released recently. Primarily, it doesn’t parody in that “commercial, American" style. You don’t necessarily need to know the scenes that are parodied here, because they are more of a subtle nod for movie connoisseurs. This movie works more than well, primarily thanks to the marvelous dose of British humor. The action is perfect in terms of filmmaking craft and is better than in many an A-grade action movie. Some scenes will have you rolling in the aisles. Simon Pegg and his aura easily carries through even at those couple of weaker moments that crop up in the course of the rather overly-long running time. And he is skillfully seconded by the creme de la creme of contemporary British comedy. Unfortunately, the result suffers from the same ailment as its older brother - a rather weak middle section. But generally it applies that this movie from the pens of Pegg and Wright is polished, intelligent and mainly darn good. Just a shame that again it is one step short of absolute perfection. But still, you can’t help but love Hot Fuzz. And as a bonus, Cate Blanchett appears here in an unmissable central role. "Nurp!" (08/06/2007)

The narrowness in adopting clichés from the other side of the ocean is often so perfect that Hot Fuzz slips to a certain self-purpose and so it balances on the edge of good taste (beyond which the similarly tuned synthetic B-movie Tarantino often falls). The film entertains when it is being British on the inside and American on the outside, but then it loses a bit in the finale, which is irresistible at first, but after a while it gets a little excessive. It's hard to justify why, despite the long runtime, great ideas and surprisingly quite engaging storyline, Hot Fuzz didn't make that much of an impression on me. Perhaps its action mimicries are so perfect that they inevitably evoke the shallow impression of a normal action movie. If there is something that I really enjoyed in addition to the atmosphere, then it is the excellent acting by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the perfect return of ex-Bond Timothy Dalton to shootouts, the stylish and youthfully fresh directing by Wright, and the great music of (currently working on Bond) composer David Arnold. When the best action film of 2007 is chosen, Hot Fuzz should not be forgotten... even with all the mockery, it is more fun and full of energy than most overseas productions. However, the film still lacks a higher degree of perspective in order to achieve perfection - not of the parodied genre, but of itself. (05/09/2007)

To be clear, I love horseshit, intentionally and unintentionally funny B-movies and parodies full of references, but there was nothing here. As with the previous Shaun of the Dead, I'm experiencing a slight déjà-vu. Wright's hammy humour bores me immensely, his editing epileptic jerks irritate me and quotes alone do not make a good film. The whole film leaves a sour taste on the tongue with a question directed at Edgar Wright: “What the fuck is this guy doing?” (25/06/2007)

Hot Fuzz is to action movies what Shaun of the Dead should have been to zombie horror, i.e. a half parody of the genre on the one hand, and a proud representative thereof on the other. Unlike Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright manages to make things work out and the result is a very good and remarkable film with humour, a (horror) twist and sharp action. Basically, without complaints. (27/06/2010)