Franchise Friday: Hot Fuzz (2007)
Just say 'yarb.'
There’s a tendency to paint Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy as the same movie made three times with different skins, which I think is unfair.
Certainly, there are similarities between each film. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End are all genre stories told through the comedic filter of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. There are repeated cinematic touchpoints and in jokes, fast cuts, gags involving fences, and the scripts’ verbal dexterity. And, of course, each film rests on the dynamic between real-life best friends Pegg and Nick Frost.
But each is also its own thing. With every entry, you can see Wright’s directorial talents sharpening, and the scripts are willing to explore more satirical and thematic avenues. There’s absolutely a familiar voice behind each film, but Wright has a variety of cinematic obsessions to indulge and ideas about friendship, community, nostalgia and conformity to tug at.
And while the centerpiece of each movie is the comedic chemistry between Pegg and Frost, the films change that dynamic throughout in ways that keep the comedy fresh and allow the actors to stretch. The relationship between Shaun and Ed is much different than the one between Nicolas and Danny in Hot Fuzz.
With this sophomore entry, Wright and his crew move on from a slacker buddy comedy where Pegg and Frost start as best friends and, instead, makes them begrudging partners who turn into something more. And while Shaun of the Dead was the film described as a “romantic comedy with zombies,” Hot Fuzz may be the more accurate love story.
Comedy buddies
Sgt. Nick Angel is the polar opposite of Shaun of the Dead’s namesake. Where Shaun was a likable slacker content to drink away his evenings until the dead came back to life, Angel is a London cop so good at his job that he’s embarrassed the rest of the department. The film opens with a fast-paced montage going over each of Angel’s feats before opening on a scene where a variety of supervisors (played by Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy) break the news that he’s being transferred to the village of Sandford, the safest village in the country. Nick protests that his team will be heartbroken, but a split second later learns they already have the champagne poured to celebrate his departure.
Hot Fuzz plays with the conventions of high-octane, macho cop flicks but, like Shaun, is never a parody. Angel might be following the template set by loner cops John McClane and Marion Cobretti, but Pegg doesn’t play him as a spoof. He’s an overachiever who “can’t switch off,” and his accomplishments are portrayed with a sly comedic flourish. But there’s sadness to watching him ride the subway alone with his Japanese peace lily. A scene where Angel breaks the news to his ex-girlfriend (Cate Blanchett, hidden behind a face mask) is very funny (poor Bob), but Pegg also sells the always-on mentality of someone whose job has become their life. It’s not high drama, but it allows Pegg to create a character who’s more than just a comic reference point.
When Angel arrives in Sandford, it allows Wright to indulge in a bit of the foreshadowing he’s famous for, introducing the characters, locations and gags that recur throughout the film. It’s funny to watch Angel crack down on minor crimes, particularly as he arrests an entire pub’s worth of underage drinkers, much to the pub owner’s consternation. But the main point is to allow him to first cross paths with Danny Butterman, an immature man he pulls over for driving while intoxicated. Danny, Angel later finds out, is a fellow police officer and the son of the Sanford PD Chief (Jim Broadbent).
Like any good buddy cop movie, Hot Fuzz has a mismatched duo at its core, and Pegg and Frost acclimate themselves well to the new roles. Pegg has fun playing the no-nonsense Angel who, as the film goes on, learns to lighten up and find a friend, as Danny’s the only one who doesn’t join in the other officers’ teasing (the nickname Nicolarse still makes me chuckle). Frost, who was still early in his career, could have easily made Danny another version of Ed, a crude, rude lout with a baton. But there’s an endearing innocence and childlikeness to Danny, who joined the force to be closer to his dad after his mother’s death.
There great humor drawn from Nick’s exasperation with Danny, who’s been raised on a steady diet of action movies (Point Break and Bad Boys 2 get explicit shoutouts) and is constantly peppering his new partner with questions like “have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air” and “is there a place on a man’s head where if you shoot it, it will blow up?” But Pegg and Frost don’t trade chemistry for anti-chemistry; the duo’s real-life friendship helps smooth the transition to the mentorship/partnership that develops between them. Some of the film’s funniest gags come in the way Wright subtly frames the blossoming Nick/Danny friendship as a romance, because what are the best buddy-cop films but love stories anyway?
Shaun of the Dead orbited around the Pegg/Frost collaboration, but Hot Fuzz makes sure its entire ensemble gets several moments to shine. Broadbent’s jolliness serves as a great foil for Angel’s self-seriousness, and also works to disguise his true intentions, revealed in the film’s final act. Paddy Considine, as one of the police department’s “Andys” (because both detectives are named Andrew) gets a lot of mileage over his empty-brained, machismo take. Future Oscar darling Olivia Colman gets off a few great double entendres, and the film is populated with great character actors, who tear into their rolls of protectors of the village’s reputation. Most notable might be Timothy Dalton, who makes a meal out of every line as the not-so-subtly-sinister owner of a local grocery store. The former James Bond has a blast on the dark side, and his joy gooses the film’s energy.
Just say ‘yarb’
While Shaun of the Dead could be seen as a comedic take on the zombie film, Hot Fuzz’s influences are a bit broader. Yes, the marketing hinged on its Tony Scott/Michael Bay inspirations, but Wright shows remarkable restraint in delivering on the giant, balls-out action sequences until the film’s final 30 minutes. Danny, in love with action cinema, expects Angel to bring guns-blazing, engines-roaring police action to Sandford, but Wright wryly undercuts those expectations by gearing up for a car chase only for it to stop a second later, or for the big mystery the duo is sent on to be centered around a missing swan. Angel has seen action, but he avoids it because of the paperwork.
Rather, the film’s first hour and a half are more indebted to horror films, particularly British folk horror, with a touch of slasher thrown in. There’s a hooded killer on the loose in Sandford, offing members of the community in increasingly graphic ways, including axes to the head and smushing them with church turrets. It’s never supposed to be scary or overtly suspenseful, but Wright has a great time with the gore gags (this movie might be grislier than Shaun of the Dead). The script, once again by Pegg and Wright, creates a well-told mystery, weaving a conspiracy throughout the village of Sandford, tied into its roots as the safest and most charming town in England. It holds up and makes sense, and the script continues the trilogy’s habit of deft foreshadowing.
Wright’s direction is more confident than it was in Shaun (and even there, it couldn’t be mistaken for timid). There are visual gags and Easter eggs that aren’t picked up on until the second or third viewing, punctuated by the sharp and funny script (Wright and Pegg love a good pun more than almost anyone). It might feel a bit less focused than Shaun of the Dead, but that’s only because the story and its influences are a bit more widespread, although Chris Dickens’ editing might be a bit too fast-paced and loud for its own good at times (then again, this is also a commentary on the films of Tony Scott and Michael Bay, who famously exploited short attention spans).
When Angel finally accepts his role as a badass hero in the film’s final act, Wright has a ball delivering over-the-top action sequences that are suitably violent and fist-pumping without sacrificing the jokes. The film’s tone shifts smoothly from the small-town horror flick to big-time action extravaganza. The shots get shorter and even Angel’s responses become monosyllabic (the toothpick in his mouth is also a nice touch). The film ends in a bloody, ferocious combination of fistfights, shootouts and car chases that also toss in a variety of callbacks (“check out his horse” referencing the “check out his arse” comment from earlier) and gags (the swan) from earlier in the film, punctuated with one of the most gruesome, yet non-fatal, dispatches of a villain I’ve seen (Dalton’s “thith really hurths” when his chin is impaled on a model church spire is both wince-inducing and hilarious). Sure, it might go on for a beat or to too long (the final explosion feels a bit extraneous), but again, indulgence is always par for the course in these films.
Whether Hot Fuzz is the best of the Cornetto trilogies is beside the point; all three films are a blast. And I guess where it falls in terms of favoritism lies more with the viewer. As someone who grew up on over-the-top action films and buddy comedies, I probably prefer this slightly more than Shaun of the Dead or World’s End. It’s got a little more polish than the former and is slightly better paced than the latter. But in the end, it’s a fractional difference. What Wright has created is a trilogy that celebrates and tweaks genre while also adding to it, and it’s a delight to revisit these every now and again.
Previous entries in this Franchise Friday series: