Hot Fuzz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hot Fuzz | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Edgar Wright |
| Produced by | Nira Park Working Title Films |
| Written by | Simon Pegg Edgar Wright |
| Starring | Simon Pegg Nick Frost Jim Broadbent Timothy Dalton Paddy Considine Edward Woodward Billie Whitelaw |
| Distributed by |  Rogue PicturesUniversal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  14 February 2007 15 March 2007 9 March 2007 20 April 2007 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hot Fuzz is a 2007 British police action / comedy film written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, known for Shaun of the Dead and Spaced. It is directed by Edgar Wright and produced by Nira Park.
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[edit] Plot
Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is one of London's finest policemen. He’s so good, he makes everyone else look bad and as a result his superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so embarrassing: the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford, where there hasn't been a recorded murder for twenty years. Once there, he meets the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Frost). Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life "bad boy," and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Among the inhabitants of the tight-knit community that Angel meets during his first days in the village is Simon Skinner (Dalton), the charming but sinister manager of the local Somerfield supermarket. Soon, Angel manages to clear up some of the town's various misdemeanours that would usually go unnoticed, such as underage drinkers, but also crimes such as a farmer storing a huge supply of illegal weapons in his barn. No other significant crimes seem forthcoming on Angel's beat, with the most pressing concern he appears to face a swan that has escaped from it's owner. Faced with the reality of his situation and urged on by Danny, Angel and his new partner go out for drinks at the pub and the two bond over action movies.
A series of grisly "accidents" rock the village - seemingly committed by a cloaked and hooded individual. Angel is increasingly convinced that Sandford is not what it seems, but clashes with the other officers - in particular the two detectives on the force who believe he's nothing more than an uptight city cop with an overactive imagination. Angel is warned not to become too obsessed with a case that could be a loose end, and is told that this very situation caused his predecessor, Sergeant Popwell (another officer transferred in from the Metropolitan police), to have a nervous breakdown. However, Angel refuses to drop the investigation and when he witnesses the local florist murdered by the cloaked figure he chases him through the flower gardens, only to be outrun by the surprisingly athletic killer.
At first, Angel deduces that all of the victims were murdered for their involvement in a lucrative property deal regarding the florist's land. He is then assaulted by the cloaked murderer, who is unmasked as the giant trolley boy of the Somerfield supermarket under the instruction of the proprieter, Skinner. From the walkie talkie that Skinner used to communicate with his deadly associate, Angel is lead to a nearby castle where shocking revelations ensue. It is discovered that Inspector Butterman and the Neighbourhood Watch Allliance (NWA), intent on keeping Sandford's title of 'Village of the Year', have been murdering anyone who lessen the village's image. Angel's life is threatened when he confronts the NWA, and he flees - only to discover the bodies of Sergeant Popwell, the underage drinkers and other "problem" people whom Angel had encountered earlier. Eventually Angel is cornered by the NWA and is stabbed by Danny. It seems that Danny was a member of the NWA all along. Angel is locked in the boot of Danny's car and driven out of town. Once safely beyond the village limits, Danny releases Angel and it becomes clear that Angel was not actually harmed - Danny had put a notepad and tomato sauce sachet in Angel's chest pocket. Danny advises him to take his car and leave, and reveals that he didn't know about the murders and thought the NWA was simply a "rap on the knuckles" to wrongdoers.
Angel decides to stop the NWA once and for all and drives back to the town, stealing the weapons from the evidence lockup he had seized from a farmer earlier on and then riding into the village on horseback. Once there, he meets with Danny and the two roam the town dispatching or disarming the members of the NWA in a series of frantic gunfights. They are confronted by the Sandford Police Force, but quickly win them over. The Sandford Police Force battle the NWA in the supermarket (A Scene which Simon Pegg once called in an interview 'The Battle of Somerfield, in reference to the shops name), while Danny and Angel pursue Skinner and Inspector Butterman. They finally catch up with the two when they crash into a large model village. There, Angel defeats Skinner and arrests Butterman, who tries to drive away but crashes into a tree while being attacked by the escapee swan seen earlier in the film.
Later, as the crews are cleaning up the mess in the now-destroyed model village, Angel's old supervisors arrive from London. They ask Angel to return to the London force, having discovered that their crime statistics have risen drastically since he has been gone - but Angel refuses, saying that he likes it in Sandford and he has a lot of paperwork to do. Back at the station, the officer's celebrations are interrupted by the only surviving member of the NWA who wasn't arrested, Tom Weaver, who tries to shoot Angel but instead hits Danny, who dives in the way of the shot. Angel kicks a metal waste bin at Weaver's head, knocking him backwards into the evidence lock up where he accidentally sets off a confiscated sea mine, blowing up the station. A year later, Angel arrives at the cemetery, in front of a gravestone marked "Butterman". Angel asks if the flowers are okay, and Danny (having survived being shot) says the flowers are fine - they are actually at the gravesite of Danny's mother. Angel has been promoted to Inspector and Danny to Sergeant, and the film ends as they go back to working the beat together in Sandford.
[edit] Cast
- Simon Pegg — PC/PS/PI Nicholas Angel
- Nick Frost — PC/PS Danny Butterman
- Jim Broadbent — Inspector Frank Butterman
- Timothy Dalton — Simon Skinner
- Edward Woodward — Tom Weaver
- Paddy Considine — DS Andy Wainwright
- Rafe Spall — DS Andy Cartwright
- Kevin Eldon — Sergeant Tony Fisher
- Billie Whitelaw — Joyce Cooper
- Olivia Colman — PC Doris Thatcher
The film's large ensemble cast also features appearances from comedians Bill Bailey, Adam Buxton, Steve Coogan, Julia Deakin, Martin Freeman, Stephen Merchant and Robert Popper as well as featuring a number of well-known British actors, such as Bill Nighy, Anne Reid, David Threlfall and Stuart Wilson.
In an uncredited cameo The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson played the part of the homicidal Father Christmas, shown in the opening sequence stabbing Nicholas' hand prior to the events of the film. In another uncredited cameo Nicholas Angel's masked forensic ex-girlfriend Janine is played by Cate Blanchett.[1]
[edit] Production
Director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg spent eighteen months writing the script.[2] During the latter half of 2005, Working Title approached several towns in South West England looking for an appropriate filming location. Simon Pegg commented "We're both from the West Country so it just seemed like it was the perfect and logical thing to drag those kind of ideas and those genres and those clichés back to our beginnings to where we grew up, so you could see high-octane balls-to-the-wall action in Frome".[3]
Stow-on-the-Wold was considered amongst others, but after being turned away, the company settled upon Wells,[4] Edgar Wright's hometown. Wright has commented "and Wells is very picturesque [...] I love it but I also want to trash it".[5] Filming also took place at the Hendon Police College, including the driving school skid pan and athletic track.[6]
Wright has said that it takes elements from his final amateur film Dead Right, a film he described as both "Lethal Weapon set in Somerset" and "a Dirty Harry film in Somerset".[5] He uses some of the same locations in both films including the Somerfield supermarket, where he used to work as a shelf-stacker.[5]
The film parodies clichés used in other action movies. On the topic of perceived gun fetishes in these movies, Pegg has said "Men can't do that thing which is the greatest achievement of humankind which is to make another human so we make metal versions of our own penises and fire more bits of metal out of the end into peoples heads [...] It's our turn to grab the gun by the hilt and fire it into your face".[3] The film was scored by David Arnold (well known for his 2006 Casino Royale soundtrack).
Filming commenced on March 19, 2006,[7] and lasted for 11 weeks.[8] Throughout the filming process Pegg, Frost and Wright recorded a regular video blog which is available on the Hot Fuzz section of the Working Title website. Wright cut half an hour from the film.[9] Advanced screenings of the film took place on the 14 February 2007 in the UK and was fully released on 16 February 2007. The film is also due to have a limited release in the USA on 20 April 2007. The film carries a 15 certificate in the UK and is rated R in the US for violent content including some graphic images, and language.
[edit] Box office and critical reception
The film generated £7.1 million in its first weekend of release in UK cinema.[10]
Critically, the movie received generally positive reviews from critics, although slightly less than the critically-acclaimed Shaun of the Dead.[11] It has a 84% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with votes from users amounting to 93%,[12] and 8.1 on IMDB. Olly Richards of Empire said of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost "After almost a decade together they’re clearly so comfortable in each other’s presence that they feel no need to fight for the punchline, making them terrific company for two hours".[13] Johnny Vaughan of The Sun already called it the "most arresting Brit-com of 2007".[14] Phillip French of The Observer, who did not care for Shaun of the Dead, warmed to the comedy team in this film.[15] The film also received positive reviews stateside. Derek Elley of Variety praised Broadbent and Dalton, "[who] are especially good as Angel's hail-fellow-well-met superior and oily No. 1 suspect".[16] As an homage to the genre, the film was well received by screenwriter Shane Black.[17]
However, the The Daily Mirror only gave Hot Fuzz 2/5, stating that "many of the jokes miss their target" as the film becomes more action-based.[18] Daily Mail also shared The Mirror's view, saying that "It's the lack of any serious intent that means too much of it is desperately unamusing, and unamusingly desperate".[19] Anthony Quinn of The Independent said "The same impish [Spaced] spirit is uncorked here, but it has been fatally indulged".[20]
[edit] Cultural references
As with Pegg and Wright's earlier works (including Spaced and Shaun of the Dead), Hot Fuzz contains numerous cultural references to other films, TV and computer games.
The film predominantly references and parodies action films. This is done in a number of ways, including references to scenes - Angel's collecting of guns from the evidence room is a direct reference to Neo 'tooling-up' in the film The Matrix.[21] - lines or specific moments. In particular, the films Bad Boys II and Point Break, watched by Angel and Butterman at one point in the film, are frequently referenced. Butterman's firing of his gun in the air in the final action scene is a reference to a scene of Point Break previously shown. In the aftermath as ambulances arrive, a low angle shot of Angel and Butterman matches one from Bad Boys when police helicopters arrive. Lines such as "This shit just got real" also refer to Bad Boys II. Other films referenced through individual lines include The Shining ("You've always been here"), Chinatown ("Forget it, Angel. It's Sandford"), Men in Black ("Now that's what I'm talking about") and He-Man (the repeated "By the power of Grayskull").
In an interview, when asked about the title of Hot Fuzz, Wright called it "pure nonsense", with the exception of the common slang term for police, 'the fuzz'. However, it admittedly sounds similar to Hot Fuss, the title of The Killers 2004 debut album.
The film also shares similarity in plot and theme with films such as Straw Dogs, The Wicker Man, Scream and The Frighteners. Meanwhile the fictional town of Sandford is the name used by Centrex for their genuine police promotion exercises.[22]
Multiple nods to Shaun of the Dead are also made, including the fence-based short cut ("What's the matter Danny? Never taken a short cut before?"), but with a role reversal of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the one-worded Cornetto requests, a pub slot machine jingle heard in the 'Winchester', the product advertised in the pub; 'Hog Lumps' and the fact that Nick Frost's character shoots someone in the leg with an air rifle. Most blatantly, the Spanish DVD release - with title of Zombies Party - is briefly seen in a supermarket bargain bin, with a price sticker covering Pegg's face.
There are several in-jokes with regards to police terminology. Some are explained in the film such as "Police Service, you can't call it a force - sounds too aggressive" where modernisation within the police has led to changes. Others such as the relevence of Sandford village within the police training environments are apparent to serving officers of PS rank or higher but irrelevent to those outside of that circle.
[edit] DVD
The DVD is scheduled for release on 11 June 2007 in the UK. The known special features include around thirty minutes of extra features, interviews, making of/behind the scenes, four audio commentaries (Edgar, Pegg and Frost, the Sandford Police force, the Sandford Village People and the Real Fuzz) and some hidden easter eggs.The DVD will also feature Wright's last amateur film Dead Right which he described as "Hot Fuzz without the budget".
[edit] References
- ^ Olly Richards. "Look Closer: Hot Fuzz", Empire, 2007-02-23, pp. 50.
- ^ Joe Utichi (2007-02-13). Countryside Commandoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ a b "Week Four 2007". The Culture Show. 2007-02-10.
- ^ "Thank God we did screen film event", Cotswold Journal, 2006-08-11.
- ^ a b c "Episode 2 - Around the West Country and into Wales". The Comedy Map of Britain. BBC 2. 2007-02-03.
- ^ List of locations used in Wells, Somerset
- ^ "Filming under way on Hot Fuzz", Working Title Films, 2006-03-20.
- ^ Hot Fuzz. Channel 4.
- ^ Patrick Kolan. "Interview With Edgar Wright", IGN, 2007-03-13. Retrieved on March 15, 2007.
- ^ "Hot Fuzz heats up UK box office", BBC, 2007-02-20.
- ^ Shaun of the Dead. Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ Hot Fuzz. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on April 5, 2007.
- ^ Olly Richards. "Hot Fuzz", Empire. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Johnny Vaughan. "The Plod Couple", The Sun, 2007-02-16. Retrieved on March 5, 2007.
- ^ Phillip French. "Hot Fuzz", The Observer, 2007-02-18. Retrieved on March 5, 2007.
- ^ Derek Elley. "Hot Fuzz", Variety, 2007-02-20. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
- ^ Patrick Kolan. "Interview With Edgar Wright (page 2)", IGN, 2007-03-13. Retrieved on March 15, 2007.
- ^ "Hot Fuzz", Daily Mirror.
- ^ Chris Tookey. "It aims. It fires. And yet somehow it misses", Daily Mail, 20 February 2007.
- ^ Anthony Quinn. "Crime and Punishment", The Independent, 2007-02-16. Retrieved on March 5, 2007.
- ^ Hot Fuzz Feature. Empire.
- ^ Cheshire's Police Village. BBC Inside Out. BBC. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
