Hot Fuzz

As I went to watch my 2nd film of the year, I have to says that my expectations (as bad as they are) were again pretty high.
I mean let's face it: "from the same team that brought you Spaced & Shaun Of The Dead".
The 1st one is one of the best TV shows I've seen in years. The 2nd is one of the best film I've seen in 2004 (which bore the release of movies such as The Incredibles, Kill Bill Vol.2, Lost In Translation, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind... So that's tough competition), happily combining the best of british comedy with an old school straight & tough zombie movie...
Their ambition was to do the same with the American blockbuster action-thriller genre (Lethal Weapon, Point Break, Bad Boys...).

And they've basically done it again! Whatever tool they used on zombies has worked again on cops.

It follows more or less all the cliches of the genre: the main character (Nick Angel, played by Simon Pegg) is transferred in a new place, having to cope with a misfitted partner (played by Nick Frost) and discovering some unsuspected corruption among senior members of the community, that will finally be defeated with some guns and car chases.
Only here, it all takes place in a small Gloucestershire village!
It's a similar formula to Team America or to some extent Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-rabbit.

The comedy works on many levels, primarily on the brilliant complicity between the leading men (reallife mate Pegg & Frost), but also on the many winks at the "proper" thriller that gets all its rules twisted... Fortunately the movie manages never to cross the line into parody, although it sometimes get quite near it...

The cast is brilliant, combining so much talent that never feels wasted, each actor adding some wit to what they have. One highlight is definitely Timothy Dalton as a memorable over the top too-sure-of-himself-not-to-be-evil character but a lot of 2ary characters, whether they be Angel's colleagues (Paddy Considine!!) or the colorful inhabitant of Stanford. Sprinkle that with a few excellent cameo (Bill Nighy & Steve Coogan come to mind) and you got bull's eye!

The script is very well written, taking its time first to set the story, giving a few false leads (you'll never guess the motive! :) ) before going into full blown popcorn nonsense.

One negative thing I have to say is that director Edgar Wright should sometimes go easy to the ultra cut editing, because it gets tiring.
But the whole thing is too much fun not to spoil it with such minor detail... ;)
And I mean it makes the "guys in blue" look cool!

Go and see it (if you can)!