Hot Fuzz (DVD)
Steve Barton
|
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Timothy Dalton, Julia Deakin, Patricia Franklin
Directed by Edgar Wright
Distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Sittin’ here, tearin’ some hearts out waitin’
waitin’ for some coppers to come
dissected ’bout a thousand bodies lately
splat some brains right on the wall
Lookin’ for some Hot Fuzz baby this evenin’
I need some Hot Fuzz baby tonight
I want some Hot Fuzz baby this evenin’
gotta have some Hot Fuzz
gotta have some lovin’ tonight
I need Hot Fuzz
And so do you. There’s been plenty of debate about whether or not to cover Hot Fuzz here on Dread Central. After all, it’s an action movie that spoofs other action movies, right? Well, yes. But, some action movies are horror movies too. Look at Underworld or Blade. Would you question us covering them? Damned right you wouldn’t. Now if Hot Fuzz didn’t have any horror themes to it at all, believe you me, you wouldn’t be reading about it here. However, just like the aforementioned two films, this flick’s roots are planted firmly within our beloved genre.
Meet Nick Angel (Pegg). He’s a hotshot cop that no one in his department likes because he is ten times the officer that most of them are. He busts criminals, nails baddies, and upholds justice. Despite these facts his commanding officers see fit to ship him off to the tiny town of Sandford — the safest town anywhere. Nick’s gonna be their problem now. After having a hard time adjusting to the much slower pace and the idiotic antics of his new partner, Danny Butterman (Frost), Nick starts investigating some tragic accidents that begin befalling the townsfolk. Before you know it, there appears to be a bona fide slasher running about. One who offs his victims and sets their murders up to appear to be just another unfortunate occurrence. Can Angel and Butterman get to the bottom of things and save the town of Sandford?
There’s your setup, and it’s a winner. Hot Fuzz does for the action/mystery genre(s) what the filmmakers’ previous effort, Shaun of the Dead, did for horror — spoofs them brilliantly. Viewers with keen eyes will notice quite a few nods and homages strewn throughout the flick amongst all the bloody carnage, and I’m not lying when I use the term bloody carnage either. Hot Fuzz features some of the best gore gags I’ve seen in a while. At times it’s no-holds-barred mayhem! There’s just no way not to like the movie. Knowing that this film will find the majority of its audience on home video, Universal has put together a pretty good package for us too.
For starters there are four ways to watch the film. Of course there’s the standard way with no bonuses at all, but there are also a running storyboard option that lets you see the storyboards for the scenes you’re watching as they’re happening; an extremely funny commentary with Pegg and director Wright; and the pièce de résistance, the Fuzz-O-Meter trivia track that delivers facts about the movie and points out all the homages and nods. Very cool stuff.
Some of the other extras are … well … quirky. First up we get a twenty-eight-minute featurette titled The Fuzzball Rally: U.S. Tour Piece, which follows Wright, Pegg, and Frost around during their ten-city U.S. tour. As you can imagine, this is quite candid and, as a result, pretty damned funny. From there we have twenty-two deleted scenes clocking in at about twenty minutes total that can be viewed individually or all at once with optional commentary. Next up is a genuinely funny ten-minute gag reel. These usually suck, but the fun everyone seemed to be having is infectious. You’ll be laughing right along with them.
Now for the quirky shit. Included here we have a thirty-second alternate clip of Angel and Butterman saying good night to each other while mimicking Sean Connery and Michael Caine named The Man Who Would Be Fuzz, a segment called Danny’s Notebook in which a flip page cartoon of someone getting run over is shown for about twenty seconds, and then we have something titled Hot Funk, which is a clean language version of one of the film’s scenes that comes in at about three and a half minutes. Again, there’s no real reason for any of this, but I guess that’s just part of the DVD’s charm.
Here’s the bottom line — Hot Fuzz is a film made for film fans. It bends genres, splits sides, and makes you wish real life were nearly as entertaining. Action flick or not, it’s the horror elements that should bring this film to the top of your must have DVD list for 2007.
Special Features
4 1/2 out of 5
Special Features:
3 1/2 out of 5
Discuss Hot Fuzz in our forums!
Categorized:Reviews
