Hot Fuzz - Ridiculous, amusing nosense.

Category: Movie Review

Amber and I decided to use Orange Wednesday's to spend some time together, so we decided to go and see Hot Fuzz at Stroud Cinema. The ques to get into the cinema was very long, and so it was a good job I got there early and stood in the que to save us a place! I have never seen the cinema so busy, as the que went all the way from the ticket desk in the cinema, right round to the bus stop and almost up to the bridge, and we thought we weren't going to get a space, but we did in the end so it was all good. However, we were sat one in front of the other, as these, according to the woman on the desk, were the only seats free. Typically, a seat next to Amber wasn't taken when the film eventually started showing, but I wasn't going to move because we were both sat in the middle, and there people either side of both of us. I chose the middle because it was a choice of that or sit at the front and crane or necks up to see nothing, which I hate doing at the cinema, because it totally ruins the film. Luckily, Stroud Cinema seats are raised, so I could see over Amber's head when she got scared and sat up in her seat hiding behind her hands (hehe). So, yeah, the review. Right.

Well, apparently, this film is classified as a comedy, and reviewed as "a hilarious action packed comedy". Well, it's definitely action packed, and is funny in places, but isn't exactly what I would call hilarious. It didn't have me rolling in the isles (not that I could, being packed in with a smoker on my left and a shy woman on my right - and a strange person on the end with a weird laugh), but that might have been because the comedy is interlaced with the action and "gore" (for want of a better word). Indeed, I spent most of the time in the cinema rehearsing what I was going to write for this review, so some of these phrases have been in my head for a few hours!
I would summarize this movie as "predictable, but in part entertaining, with no evidence of a clear story line, just an excuse to make a movie that has lots of guns and swearing in it, without justification. A stunt movie, rather than a special effects movie". I did enjoy some parts of it, and it did have the outline of a murder mystery, which was very effective. The special effects were good, - where they existed - such as the house explosion, but the rest of the effects were stunts - mainly involving cars or guns, or both. I say the film was predictable becuase it was - not wanting to reveal to much here, but I knew Angel couldn;t have died when (that person) stabbed him 1. bewcuase he is teh hero, and 2 because of the notebook that x put in his pocket - it saved him, as I knew it would (as well as the ketchup hehe). According to Amber, it was a scary film, but I explained to her that the gore was only make up and rubber, so there was nothing to be worried about. She calmed down then. (Only joking. She just said it was quite scary, but then in her words, she is a wimp. Particularly because she screamed out loud in the cinema when James and Ben took her to see The Omen!). The interlaced gore was quite gory - and did look real, but felt out of place in a comedy movie. However, as this film was written by the same people that wrote shaun of the dead, I am sure that this can be explained. (I have yet to see this film, but apparently it is a comedy/horror film).
This film went on a bit too long - there was a perfect place to end it when that person throws a bin at Angel, but the film had to carry on because it needed an even bugger explosion to round of the film. The actors are quite good, I particularly liked Pegg because although there is no such character development (only through dialogue with the other characters, which works), he is very good in the sense that he conveys the characters personality very well.
In conclusion, I did enjoy this film, but it isn't my cup of tea, because in my opinion it is just an excuse to make a film that has gins and swearing in it. In some cases, the swearing is justifiable, but it certainly shouldn't be used to make people laugh, and unfortunately this film does rely on swear words to convey the humour in most places. However, many comedians work without swear words, and I find them terribly funny (much funnier than I found this film, I hasten to add). I probably would go and see this film though, just to catch and memorise some of the funny one liners from this film, as there are some good ones, but i probably wont be buying it on DVDVD. To summarise, I will quote Clare Sheppard's review in the SNJ (who is always very good and seems to hold the same opinions as me) - she summarised Hot Fuzz as "amusing nonsense" which I would agree with. However, because of some of the great one liners, e.g. "don't worry aidy its only bolognese", and Pegg's strong performance, i am going to give this film 5.5 (6 on a good day) out of 10.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention, this film will probably give me/you epilepsy because of the ridiculous jumping images that happen quite frequently when the criminals are displayed being recorded by the police. I also haven't used the word ridiculous at all in this post, except for the word jsut now, so I changed the title of this post too too.