Hot Fuzz

Welcome to this year's village. Or wait a minute … Imagine that you're too good at your job, that all your colleagues hate you for it and want you as far away as possible. That's the premise for one of the funniest comedies from Britain in recent years. Hot Fuzz is the second in the so-called Cornetto trilogy by Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright, which began with Shaun of the Dead and ended with The World's End, where the color of the ice cream wrapper directly relates to the theme of the film. Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, London's best (and most irritating) police officer, who is unexpectedly transferred to the small and suspiciously quiet town of Sandford. All the action-film clichés are well accounted for here: snappy dialogue, gigantic explosions, grotesque deaths, excessive use of weapons and dark conspiracies. The script is brilliant, managing to mock all the improbable action films, while its own improbable plot entertains to the extreme. We must also highlight the editing, which is used very creatively, both for pace, storytelling technique and comic timing. A brilliant cast also contributes; after Shaun of the Dead "everyone" wanted to be in this film. The lead roles are played by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent and Timothy Dalton, but in the smaller roles we find at least as big names, including Sir Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy, Bill Bailey, Cate Blanchett and Steve Coogan.