Hot Fuzz Knew the Secret to the Perfect Action Satire

Liz Shannon Miller
·10 min read
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The post Hot Fuzz Knew the Secret to the Perfect Action Satire appeared first on Consequence.

The greatest movie satires seem like legitimate entries into the genre(s) they’re lampooning. That’s as true of This is Spinal Tap, The Return of the Living Dead, Brazil, Dr. Strangelove, Tropic Thunder, Fargo, and Starship Troopers as it is the reigning king of self-referential slashers, Scream. All of these films — and dozens of others — operate on multiple levels by being faithful yet funny sendups of their chosen styles.

Naturally, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s “Cornetto Trilogy” of satires also excels at balancing such seemingly divergent tones and agendas. As Pegg described to About.com in 2007, these “spastiches” — presumably, a combination of “spoof” and “pastiche” — work because they’re “inhabiting [their] genre comedically, rather than making fun of [them].”

To use an English idiom, both 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2013’s The World’s End were indeed able to take the piss out of zombie cinema and alien invasion cinema, respectively, with amusing accuracy. That said, it’s the middle part of the trio — Hot Fuzz — that does it best.

Released in late April 2007, the lovingly crafted buddy-cop action-comedy deftly mixes authentic American style and excess with characteristic British wit and culture. Packed to the brim with affectionately adept meta-humor, inventive foreshadowing, endearing characters, shrewd plot twists, and hilariously conventional chaos, Hot Fuzz remains a nearly flawless mash-up of its formulas. Beyond that, it’s a superb example of how capable and committed filmmakers can pay exceptional tribute to the things they love.

Given Shaun of the Dead’s massive popularity in the mid-2000s, you might think that Wright, Pegg, and co-star Nick Frost (who typically plays Pegg’s on-screen buddy) would’ve made a sequel to the zombie comedy. According to Wright, though, they preferred to “take the same sensibility and move on” with new characters and situations.

So, why move on to a police procedural? Because, as Wright illuminated in a 2007 chat with the New York Post, “there [wasn’t] really any tradition of cop film in the UK… We felt that every other country in the world had its own tradition of great cop action films and we had none.” (Plus, Wright made an action-thriller student film called Dead Right in 1993, so he’d already had some practice and shown some attachment to the style.)

Furthermore, in a 2007 interview with Bigfanboy.com, Pegg noted that the “British policeman [didn’t] have cinematic prospects. Even in British cinema, it is more of the detectives that get the limelight.” He also suggested to Topel that the American action film “has fed into British culture since the ’50s in all its incarnations,” to the point that it’s “evolved into the British consciousness.”

As Pegg adds, “And also, we’re very hungry for American culture in the UK.  I think there’s something – we have a slight – we don’t quite like seeing ourselves on the screen. We get a bit bored of it, so exotic locations and people who have guns is so exciting to us.”

Now that the main trio had the impetus for their next passion project, they had to do plenty of research to fully realize it. That involved watching “like 138 movies during the [18 months of] writing; we watched everything,” Wright reflected in his 2007 discussion with Gather’s Stevie Wilson. That included classics like Dirty Harry and L.A. Confidential, machismo mainstays like Point Break and Bad Boys II, and even “bad cop films” starring Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal.

Alongside that, he and Pegg studied Roger Ebert’s The Bigger Little Book Of Hollywood Clichés and conducted “about fifty interviews” with real police officers to gather material and safeguard accuracy. As for Frost, he went on “ride-alongs with the police and went on patrol in London in quite a dangerous part of the city.” Clearly, all three were dedicated to ensuring that Hot Fuzz did justice to its inspirations.

It’s no wonder, then, why virtually every aspect of the movie pays precise homage to action cinema. For instance, the title was chosen “to appeal to the sort of [meaningless] two-word titles of the ‘80s and ‘90s action flicks, like Lethal Weapon and Point Break and Executive Decision,” Pegg clarified to Topel.

Similarly, Hot Fuzz was scored by longtime James Bond film series composer David Arnold, and he used score samples from the Lethal Weapon series to create the aptly titled theme “Lethal Fuzz.” The soundtrack also features a lot of high-octane original music, as well as Mark Isham’s “Foot Chase” (from Point Break) and Trevor Rabin’s “Hostage Situation” (from Bad Boys II). Thus, even Wright and Pegg’s music choices testified to their fondness for action cinema.

In addition to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos from Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson, Hot Fuzz’s cast is full of familiar action actors. For instance, former James Bond star Timothy Dalton plays the delightfully sinister Simon Skinner; Paul Freeman (The Long Good Friday, Raiders of the Lost Arc) plays Rev. Philip Shooter; Stuart Wilson (Lethal Weapon 3, The Rock) plays Dr. Robin Hatcher; and Edward Woodward (The Equalizer, The Wicker Man) plays Professor Tom Weaver.

By incorporating so much established genre talent, the filmmakers further illustrate that every facet of Hot Fuzz was fashioned with an immense appreciation for action movies. After all, what could be better than getting the real performers to recreate certain tropes and poke fun at themselves (especially if they’re playing against type, as is the case with Dalton and Woodward, if not all four men)? At the same time, these recognizable faces act as easter eggs for attentive viewers, rewarding genre aficionados with nostalgic reminders of seminal action films from yesteryear.

Endearingly, Hot Fuzz was shot in Somerset (in the West Country), where Pegg and Wright grew up. Back in 2007, Pegg was quoted as saying that “it just seemed like it was the perfect and logical thing to drag those kinds of ideas and those genres and those clichés back to our beginnings to where we grew up, so you could see high-octane balls-to-the-wall action.”

The setting’s constant juxtapositions between English humbleness and American hedonism are unfailingly ambitious and entertaining — in a way, they spark an engaging sense of culture shock for both the characters and the viewers. What’s more, the cast and crew have personal connections to some locations (such as the supermarket where Wright used to work, and the Swan Hotel where numerous people stayed during filming). Hence, Hot Fuzz allowed Wright and Pegg to pay respects to their cinematic and personal roots.

This means that although it’s bathed heavily in Americanism, the film is just as ripe with charming Britishness. There are the deceptively quaint and friendly townsfolk; the characters’ penchant for pubs, biscuits, and tea; the reappearing gang of hoodlums; the use of derogatory slang such as “wanker,” “c*nt,” and even “hot fuzz”; the recurring swan joke; or its many nods to actual British police trademarks (like using “ 999” for the evidence room door lock and calling female officers Doris).

Beyond that — and alongside numerous bits of broader visual jokes and verbal gags, including an abundance of foreshadowing and callbacks — Hot Fuzz erupts with uproariously clever jabs at action films. For one thing, you have the fish out of water stereotype of a hardened and humorless police officer (Pegg’s Sergeant Nicolas Angel) reluctantly relocating to a new environment, only to decide that he belongs there by the end. Naturally, he’s also unwillingly teamed up with an entertainingly eccentric partner (Frost’s Danny Butterman) whom he soon befriends.

Among countless other titles, that basic set-up evokes the Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon, 48 Hrs., and Rush Hour series. Plus, Frost’s undying love for Point Break and Bad Boys II — together with his tendency to ask Pegg if he’s ever enacted any action movie tropes — reveals the filmmakers’ deep-seated adoration for the style. Furthermore, it provides a comedic yet insightful commentary on how extensively these movies have infiltrated popular culture.

The creative team’s adulation for action cinema shines through in even subtler ways, such as the allusions to Albert Popwell (who acted in multiple Dirty Harry movies). Then, you have Swan Hotel manager Joyce Cooper announce, “Janice Barker has decided to name her twins Roger and Martin,” which is a sly wink at Lethal Weapon protagonists Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh.

Oh, and Skinner impaling his chin on the model church at the end is a nod to 1984’s No Escape (wherein Stuart Wilson — yes, the same Stuart Wilson who plays Dr. Hatcher here — trips and gets impaled on a spike).

Elsewhere, Hot Fuzz sublimely parodies the sounds and sights of genre greats like Jerry Bruckheimer, John Woo, Shane Black, and Michael Bay. For example, nearly everything Pegg and Frost do — from filling out paperwork, drinking beer, and eating ice cream to pursuing criminals and interviewing suspects — is portrayed with hyperactive editing and intense musical passages to make everything seem adrenaline-fueled.

Of course, the third act shootout is hilariously over-the-top, too, with every prior main character taking part in increasingly silly ways. Pegg even enters the town square on a horse and with an outrageous amount of guns (as if he’s a lone cowboy who’s just discovered a huge weapons cache). His entrance owes as much to archetypical Wild West cinema as it does De Palma’s The Untouchables.

Likewise, the ensuing bloodbath — with its slow-mo dives for cover, swirling shots of helicopters, and defeated Frost firing his gun into the air — blatantly honors Hard Boiled, Bad Boys II, and Point Break (in that order).

At the same time, however, the last thirty minutes of Hot Fuzz are genuinely exhilarating and engrossing, rivaling the intensity, panache, and destruction of many serious action film finales. Sure, it’s always absurd, but Wright’s direction (coupled with Pegg and Frost’s performances) brings a lot of validity to what’s on-screen.

In addition, several earlier scenes, such as Pegg’s frequent arguments with his colleagues about his suspicions, as well as the murder of Tim Messenger at the village fête, are commendably dramatic and suspenseful — honestly, a considerable amount of the movie could pass for a real police procedural or Agatha Christie whodunit.

That’s true not only for the heroes’ motives and methods but also for those of the villainous NWA (Neighborhood Watch Alliance). Almost everyone involved — especially Skinner — is amusingly yet justifiably diabolical, and the twists, turns, and red herrings surrounding their sardonically nefarious plan are sincerely resourceful and surprising.

In other words, it would take only a few subtle tweaks for the movie to become a laudably smart and compelling action/thriller/mystery. There’s even an undercurrent of horror in that the NWA’s targets are killed like victims in a slasher movie. Yes, each murder is laughably ridiculous and extreme, but they’re not too far removed from Argento’s classic giallo pictures or Sylvester Stallone’s Cobra, either.

Pegg put it perfectly when he said that Hot Fuzz was “made with affection, as a Valentine to those movies.” Indeed, virtually every moment exudes Wright and Pegg’s fondness for and knowledge of action movies, as well as a painstaking devotion to bringing their vision to life. It’s an equally funny and faithful homage to the cinema that inspired it, with enough ingenious connections (to those movies and the other entries in the “Cornetto Trilogy”) to ensure that it remains the best of its kind.

Hot Fuzz Knew the Secret to the Perfect Action Satire
Liz Shannon Miller

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