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Massawyrm Finds HOT FUZZ Positively Arresting!!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
No one is safe from Edgar Wright. No one. The man is a fucking fiend. A frenetic comic genius who has assembled an unstoppable team that is redefining comedy for the new age. You think I’m exaggerating? You think this is premature AICN ejaculation? You think maybe we’ve become a bit too close in our connections to ole Edgar and company?
Then you haven’t fucking seen Hot Fuzz.
Exactly thirty years ago, a writing/directing team exploded onto the scene with a movie that began to change modern comedy forever. Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers began with their writing for The Kentucky Fried Movie and parlayed that into a series of classic comedies that took the popular genres of the day, turned them on their ears and made entire films out of them. These parody films developed a series of imitators – both professional and independent – and none ever so good as the classics these three made together (even the films they made when they separated lacked in comparison.) Airplane!, Top Secret!, Police Squad! (with exclamation points one and all) which of course led to The Naked Gun. All classics.
The unfortunate side effect of this massive change is that the slew of parody films that followed simply got worse and worse until we finally sank to the low of the recent Epic Movie, a movie that dared even to sink lower than their previous Date Movie. Yes, the parody film is dead and buried in this incarnation at the age of 30. But you know who else is about 30? Edgar Wright. And along with his team of writing partner/actor Simon Pegg and Comedian Nick Frost, he’s set out to completely reinvent the parody film.
The biggest mistake that most parody comedies make is that they simply remake a scene from a film, almost word for word, or they just add in a completely absurd element AND THEN remake the scene. Or, oh gee look! It’s a character from another movie making a quick appearance. Comedy gold. Thirty Years ago.
But Edgar has set out to do something different. He’s making a series of films that not only make fun of other films, but does so lovingly, and in doing so manages the unbelievable distinction of being able to completely exist as a film within the genre it sets out to roast. You got all that? In Shaun of the Dead every single convention of the zombie genre is brought to bear. There isn’t a zombie gag out there, save maybe Shark vs. Zombie, that doesn’t make some sort of appearance. And the more you know your zombie movies, the funnier the movie is. BUT, you don’t ever have to see a single zombie movie to laugh. Because at the same time it is a sendup of the genre, it faithfully plays by every last rule OF the genre. Which in and of itself is part of the parody.
But somehow, magically, it still remains a perfect example of what it is making fun of. Shaun of the Dead is a brilliant zombie movie. Even without the comedy. It’s telling a new and interesting story that fits wonderfully in the canon of zombie film history. Of course, the formula was so perfect, such lightning in a bottle, would it be possible to duplicate it in another film?
Absolutely. In fact, I would argue that I found Hot Fuzz a funnier film than I ever found Shaun, if not better.
Hot Fuzz works with the exact same formula, this time turning its attention towards the buddy cop comedy. Every convention of that once great, and long over clichéd genre are brought front and center…all except those that have been parodied so often that it hurts. So no, no one gets their badge and their gun taken away by a screaming Chief of Police…but pretty much everything else is there.
And no one is safe. No one. Richard Donner. Tony Scott. Even Michael “Damn You” Bay. They all get their licks here. Through stylistic gags, soundtrack cues and even riffs on the old gags, Hot Fuzz puts the entire genre through the wringer while actually, surprise surprise, using those conventions to make a perfect buddy cop comedy. Like Shaun before it, this will stand on its own without the need to know what films are being made fun of. Because even without the parody, it’s a damn good movie.
And if for some reason you thought it would be impossible for this movie to exceed the sheer amount of gore and bloodshed that was present in Shaun, boy do you have another thing coming. Occasionally shocking, occasionally fall down funny as fuck, the bloodshed adds to the films aesthetic in a number of ways. And anyone who thinks that this is somehow wrong or out of place hasn’t watched their fair share of buddy cop films – traditionally a bloodthirsty and R-rated genre.
One of the things Edgar and Simon excel at is wordplay – something, it seems, we only got a brief taste of in their last film. As writers, the two spent an entire day working over that classic bit of dialog “We’ll have a Bloody Mary in the Morning…” which proceeds through puns to run through the entire plot of the second half of the film. Well this time they’ve outdone themselves. There’re so many clever plays on words that it’s going to take a few more run-throughs before I’m sure I’ve caught them all. But if you pay attention, you’ll be fed a steady stream of sharp one-liners that set up virtually every gag that follows.
And they never go for the cheap laugh here. Everything, EVERYTHING, is carefully constructed and perfectly executed. Multiple layers exist making this a comedy accessible to anyone. But for us, for film geeks, this thing is absolute heaven, a veritable goldmine of comedy that riffs on our deep fried favorite material. Material you can tell that the guys themselves are equally in love with. This is how comedies are supposed to be made.
I mean, for the love of all that is holy, there was applause at the end of the film. At a CRITIC screening. A roomful of critics (with only myself representing AICN) and we were all applauding. Six years of screenings here in Austin and I’ve never once seen that from this crowd. Shaun of the Dead was no fluke. It was a signal, a harbinger of the comic genius that was to come out of a couple of movie geeks from Britain. I haven’t laughed this long and this hard in I don’t know how long. Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are all busy rewriting the rules of the modern comedy. Nobody out there is doing anything close. And no one is safe. Lord only knows who, and what, they’ll take to town next. But god damnit I’m ready to see it.
After I see this one a few dozen more times.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm before he vanishes into a SXSW fueled haze? Send it here.
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But I'll watch this movie.
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It was a fine movie, that was pretty amusing, and it had a nice kinetic pace I was a fan of, but it's not something I feel I'd need to see again. Granted, there were some jokes that WERE quite good, but overall, I didn't think it was anything special. However, I had the same response to Shaun of the Dead, so maybe my opinion isn't what you want.
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you're finally right in one of your reviews. well done.
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Kentucky Fried Movie? Noooooo!
Bad! Bad movie! No chew toy! Bad!
*rubs KFM's nose in itself* -
"He’s making a series of films that not only make fun of other films, but does so lovingly, and in doing so manages the unbelievable distinction of being able to completely exist as a film within the genre it sets out to roast." *** So, uh, like SCREAM?
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the fucking constant wink-at-the-camera smug reminders we are watching a parody of the genre....
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http://tinyurl.com/38eqlg
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So this is better than LAST ACTION HERO?
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I'm not sure if the version I saw in Picadilly Circus Saturday was different than the American version, but the one I saw there was like 2 hours and 20 minutes long and needed to be about 90 minutes. It took a full hour and a half before you saw any blood and before anything happened. There's just so long you can watch fast edits and close ups of someone locking a door or putting on their clothes with sound effects. Believe me, I loved Shaun and there's a lot about this movie I loved, but it needed to lose a lot of the build up and get to the action.
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Some may shit on Bad Boys, and Desperado, to a lesser extent, but both flicks have great action scenes which are plotted and inventive. The action scenes in Hot Fuzz involve people firing guns at each other in a two shot. Granted, the film is HELLA FUNNY, but the action was flat and boring.
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says Mr. blockhead DAMN YOU GEORGE LUCAS!!!
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Starts out as a VERY English tv movie, then it turns into the Wickerman before finally turning into Bad Boys/Point Break. Good but Shaun was much better. IMO.
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THIS...IS...SPARTA!!
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And this coming from a big fan of Shaun and Spaced. It was funny in parts and nasty in good ways (Wicker Man parallel is what I thought it did best), hell even Tim Dalton was great as the sleazy as hell supermarket manager. But it was just waaay too long. And the flash cuts, although amusing for the first time got old quick (nice pisstake of the Scott colour bleed though). Go see it, but don't expect Shaun levels of hilarity. Now Mr. Wright, do a sci fi flick.
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I thought so too. Very funny though.
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Only Joking. But while I understand the need for this to be trimmed by at least 20 minutes to tighten it all up the flick is fucking hilarious all the way through. I couldn't stop laughing.
For some reason this doesn't seem to be having the same universal appeal as Shaun. -
Only Joking. But while I understand the need for this to be trimmed by at least 20 minutes to tighten it all up the flick is fucking hilarious all the way through. I couldn't stop laughing.
For some reason this doesn't seem to be having the same universal appeal as Shaun. -
so i won't be one. Truth be told i really wasn't blown away by hot fuzz, loved shaun, found what i saw of spaced to be exceedingly funny but just found HF to be chortle worthy most of the time (thats right i said chortle). I was consistently entertained but rarely more than that, and thats not to say theres anything wrong with just being entertained there isn't but after the cock-sucking this movie has received from this site i was hoping for something better. It is about twenty minutes too long as other posters have said and it really isn't very action packed for most of the movie (although the third act is fucking brilliant) and i think this might be my problem with the movie. All of the movies that this is an homage to or reference to have constant escalating violence and hot fuzz just doesn't, theres a few very gory deaths but it's just not paced out as well as shaun and it doesn't follow the formula that most hollywood action films do. Not a bad film by any means just not a brilliant one (but then my brother loved it and he only found one scene in shaun of the dead funny so i guess it's horses for courses).
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And Damn Micheal Bay....Just cause I've never said it before and people seem to like saying it. I thought I'd try it out.
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....but I thought this was one of the best,if not THE best films I`ve ever seen!
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It made me chuckle nearly all the way through and there are two or three massively big laugh out moments (seeing a shotgun-toting granny getting karate kicked in the head SHOULDN'T be that funny but it fucking is) . It IS well written, well acted and obviously made with a lot of love for the subject but it just doesn't have the spark that Shaun did. Maybe repeated viewings will expose bits I didn't see or get the first time round. As for the love in that the film is getting from this site and from other critics in the US that maybe down to the fact that the kind of UK humour that is represented by Wright, Pegg and Frost is new to you guys. To us its old news. Still funny as hell but were spoilt for choice I suppose in the UK when its comes to our comedy. Now I don't want to put anyone off seeing it because its still a good, funny and entertaining film and much better than the fetid turds that Hollywood been making and calling 'Comedy' in recent years. Just don't expect the film to be the heralding of the second coming of Monty Python when it comes to the team behind this. They can and have done much better than this. Look forward to what they can do with sci-fi...
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But I watched Shaun last night and it really is so much tighter, and better shot too. EW needed a couple of million pounds added to his budget to really kick the action into high gear. It's already grossed over £15 million in the UK alone, off a £5 million budget.
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The cinema I was in laughed 3 times, and two were mild titters. This film is not an action film, and is a very serious comedy.
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none other than that Atkins luvin director Peter Jackson. There ya go fact fans!!!!!
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....Simon Pegg drove back into town.
He's gonna disarm that granny, I thought.
NO!!!
He fly kicked her in the face!!!
For me, as more of an action than horror fan, this is better than Shaun of the Dead.
Well done fellas.
One question though, why no cameo by Jess? Apart from anything else, she's stunning!
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Does anybody know if he had a falling-out with Mark Heap? They were great together on Big Train and Spaced, but he hasn't been in either Shaun or Hot Fuzz, which has camoes from everybody ( including Kevin Eldon which is awesome). I read an interview with Mark Heap, where they asked him about it and he sounded very bitter. I also heard that Edgar Wright avoids talking about it. Anybody know what's going on?
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There IS a reference to SHARK VS. ZOMBIE:
The restaurant that Sean's girlfriends wants to go to is a fish restaurant, and what's it called? FULCI'S!........
I liked HOT FUZZ, and have been a huge fan of the SPACED boys since before they were the SPACED boys (anyone seen Edgar's "FISTFUL OF FINGERS"?) but thought it needed to be 30 minutes shorter with more dynamic action.... -
Got some great moments and it's all very clever and that, but it gets pretty tiresome seeing all the same acting/directing/editing tricks that they did all the way through Spaced and Shaun, and seeing them in such a drawn-out movie. Maybe I'm getting bored of their style, or maybe it's just the way this movie's put together.
Shame, cos I'm the biggest, baddest Bad Boys II fan there is, and by the time the movie really went ballistic my brain had slowed down from everything feeling too familiar. -
Simon fell out with Jessica Stevenson a while ago, but I think that may have been patched up now. Mark Heap has been busy working on Green Wing during the shooting of both Shaun and Hot Fuzz, as far as I know there is no acrimony between the two.
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He took the words right out of my mouth. People who do modern parody don't get it. Take MY BIG FAT INDEPENDENT MOVIE for example. So the creators of that film thought that the best way to poke fun at indie films was to do direct scene rip-off and make poo and fart jokes? Did they even understand their audience for that?
Top Secret is just amazing. It's parody, but just barely. It's more of a work of absurdist art on screen. True brilliance and you don't need to be a fan of Elvis, War, or Blue Lagoon films to enjoy it! -
hot fuzz=very good but not great. Best scene has to be the priest and his "grasshoppers." It's a different type of movie from sotd...it's alot less subtle...more gag/visual driven than the predecesor. still a damn good movie- that, yeah, was 20 minutes too long.
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If you thought that Tim Dalton's "here come the fuzz" line was cool, imagine how it was for us, having to stand behind him and trying to act tough! Lol!
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These guys are hysterical. When these guys team up they really know how to do it up. Edgar Wright really made every piece of the plot come back to together at the end... well done sir, well done
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Ever since I saw Shaun of the Dead in the theater (3 times), I've been waiting for this one. A friend of mine saw it and seems to agree with most people here that its solid. Bring on the Fuzz...
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