Joel, Chris and Jason review Hot Fuzz, the second installment of The Cornetto Trilogy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and directed by Edgar Wright.
Joel's Thoughts: The Cornetto Trilogy (This movie, Shaun of the Dead, and The World’s End) are pretty much the modern day equivalent of the three Monty Python movies (Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Meaning of Life). This is both a compliment and a criticism of the movie. A compliment in that both “trilogies” (a term that is used very loosely) are done by incredibly funny comedians, both create a strong style of comedy that by and large defines how comedy is done for the next several years. On the other hand, it’s usually more fun to sit around with your friends and quote the funny bits than it is to actually rewatch the movie. (Seriously, when’s the last time you actually sat down and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail by yourself, from beginning to end?) Hot Fuzz is the second movie and a send up of the action genre. You can’t really call it a parody or a spoof, because this movie is an out and out action movie. It’s just aware that sometimes action movies can be a bit absurd, and it takes a moment to briefly say, “that’s absurd” before going full tilt back into the action again. (In all fairness, Hot Fuzz is more absurd than your standard action film, but then that’s what it tries to be) This movie succeeds where other send ups of the genre fail, because it takes the time to be a good action film instead of saying “It’s ok that we’re doing a bad job at the action part because this is a comedy. It supposed to be bad for funny reasons.” It’s the approach that worked for Shaun of the Dead and zombies and it works here as well.
Chris' Thoughts: A great movie to watch if you’re on a Cornetto Trilogy binge or it’s great one it’s own. Also, this movie is responsible for my favorite movie quote that I like to use on a regular basis, “If we don’t do something about these clowns, we’ll be up to our balls with jugglers.” What I like about this movie is that it’s incredibly funny without making fun of it’s action side, those elements balance each other out brilliantly. It hits about every point on the comedy spectrum between high and low brow comedy. If you can’t find at least one moment from this movie that you find funny, you need to see a doctor because you might be dead.
Jason's Thoughts: The thing that gets me about this film is the left turn it takes at the end. The plot comes out in the end very much like The Wicker Man (the one with Sir Christopher Lee, not Nick Cage). Where everyone is in on it and no one seems to think it’s wrong. The beginning is an excellent cop story with the investigation and the clues and then BAM it throws out the underlying cult aspect! Of course, I love how it takes itself just seriously enough to drive the story along but not so much that it becomes a gritty action thriller. They did a great job with the gun fight. Very worthy of a cop drama. And the car chase left nothing to be desired. This is my second favorite of the Cornetto films (simply because I’m a zombie fanatic) and one I can watch over and over again.
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