Well at least in this one the dead people stay dead!
"Well at least in this one the dead people stay dead!" thus spake the girl on emerging from watching Hot Fuzz last night.
There has been a theme running through the media reviews of Hot Fuzz that the 1st two thirds are great comedy, but the final third when the action kicks off drags. Personally I think they are talking rubbish and that the action sequences are the best bit of the film, but then again when I was a testosterone filled adolescent I thought Bad Boys was the best film ever made. I think the violence works, and perhaps works better than the rest of the film, because although the script deliberately plays up the contrasts between the brash American action thriller genre and the quaint English postcard setting the acting and direction is not tongue in cheek. Where most parodies fall down is that the cast and director cannot help but pull back to wink and nod at the audience about how clever they are being, thereby killing any dramatic flow they have built up.
My only criticism would be that the characterisation is a little 2 dimensional. Jim Broadbent
does a wonderful turn as the kindly bumbling Inspector, but because it is a caricature of a part when the twist comes near the end you don't really care. Also, and inevitably, this isn't as fresh as Shaun of the Dead, that was a genre breaking comedy, this is a very good example of the genre of sideways British looks at Hollywood cliches Pegg and Wright seem to be creating.
So unlike Ryan I would give 8/10 rather than 10/10. Still bloody good though.
There has been a theme running through the media reviews of Hot Fuzz that the 1st two thirds are great comedy, but the final third when the action kicks off drags. Personally I think they are talking rubbish and that the action sequences are the best bit of the film, but then again when I was a testosterone filled adolescent I thought Bad Boys was the best film ever made. I think the violence works, and perhaps works better than the rest of the film, because although the script deliberately plays up the contrasts between the brash American action thriller genre and the quaint English postcard setting the acting and direction is not tongue in cheek. Where most parodies fall down is that the cast and director cannot help but pull back to wink and nod at the audience about how clever they are being, thereby killing any dramatic flow they have built up.
My only criticism would be that the characterisation is a little 2 dimensional. Jim Broadbent
does a wonderful turn as the kindly bumbling Inspector, but because it is a caricature of a part when the twist comes near the end you don't really care. Also, and inevitably, this isn't as fresh as Shaun of the Dead, that was a genre breaking comedy, this is a very good example of the genre of sideways British looks at Hollywood cliches Pegg and Wright seem to be creating.
So unlike Ryan I would give 8/10 rather than 10/10. Still bloody good though.
posted by Bernard at 10:42 am
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