Hot Fuzz

I. Love. This. Movie. Seriously, you have no idea. It is honestly the funniest and the most brilliant film that I have seen all year. I'm not such a fan of pointlessly violent films or so-called shoot-'em-ups, but that might be why I love this film so much. It shamelessly pokes fun at these films and shows how absurd and silly they really are, while at the same time honoring them and paying tribute. Why do we love Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay? We may never know, especially us critics, but that is part of what 'Fuzz' is saying. It's brilliant in that it makes fun of this genre of film whilst not actually becoming a parody of them and paying a bit of homage to them. Yes they are silly and ridiculous, but we like them all the same. The brilliance of this film also comes from the way it subtely makes certain points of these sort films and in doing so incorporates these points into the main action of 'Fuzz' (for example: when the old woman is firing away at Nick with a machine gun, directly at him, and he never gets a scratch-ever notice this in cop films or similar? I have). This film is violent, true (but not like 'Shaun of the Dead') but some of the violence is done in quick edits and it's over with quickly and doesn't linger on the carnage. Which is good because I have a rather weak stomach. Everything is pitch-perfect here: the acting (which all seems fresh and natural, and every actor works so well with the others and plays off of each other nicely, almost like a 'Butch Cassidy' way), the script (which is witty and clever and will keep you laughing, and with enough quotes to keep you quoting all day), and the music, which is perfect for the film (I bought the soundtrack and will admit that it is a lot of fun to listen to). I honestly didn't find anything wrong with this film, and it is so incredibly fun that it should be illegal. Some people have complained about the length, but it felt right to me (although, after 'Pirates 3' last week, anything will feel short). Keep an eye out for some clever cameos of certain British actors; some are obvious (Martin Freeman-who looks old!) and some not so much (Peter Jackson-yes, 'King Kong' and 'Rings' man-is the Santa who stabs Nick). And of course, Bill is here as Chief Inspector Kenneth (he was partly the reason I was so eager to see this film-how brilliant is he? He gets two minutes screen time and commands those minutes like no other-but you know how much I like Bill); I do think he deserved more screen time. Oh and don't think that this film pays tribute only to cop films; the Western gets its due here too, like the scene where Nick is riding the white horse into Sandford decked out in gear; a classic tribute to Clint Eastwood's Westerns-a man on a pale horse has come to do justice in a town where hell runs loose. Not to mention the more obvious nods such as the game at the church fair. And if you were paying attention to the music during the horse riding scene towards the end you could hear David Arnold's tribute to Ennio Morricone's 'Dollars' trilogy score. Just fantastic.