Hot Fuzz, movie (2007) - Film review by Kadmon

If you'd like to be surprised by the Hot Fuzz film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 1:18, because it gives away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film.

Hot Fuzz, movie (2007) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
video © Universal Studios (Comcast)

Article updated: 2022.09.06

The Hot Fuzz (2007) is a police action / thriller comedy film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.

Product: Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

Original title: Hot Fuzz

Series: -

Setting: contemporary Earth

Product type: Film, Genre: police action / thriller comedy, Style: action, police action, thriller, comedy

Release: 2007.02.13 (London), Release: 2007.02.16

Watched: very recent (2021.06), at least third time, multiple times through the years

Rating: Great (3 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Great (3 out of 3 points)

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This is my review of Hot Fuzz, a police action / thriller comedy movie from 2007. It's about a team of police officers trying to uncover some mysterious murders in a small village. The Hot Fuzz film is interesting, I recommend it.

Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

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Review (spoiler-free) - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

I've seen Shaun of the Dead, and I liked it a lot. When I've heard the team is making a new movie, of course I was curious about it. I probably didn't watch the trailer, and went to watch it blindly.

The Hot Fuzz movie is about a team of police officers trying to uncover some mysterious murders in a small village.

The story is very good, it works really fine in establishing the setting, the characters, then puts fun twists into the movie. The pacing and the plot is consistent. There are character arcs for the main characters. I didn't find major logical problems.

The cinematography is good. The scenes look really nice. The action scenes are interesting, fun, and easy to follow.

The characters are okay, we get enough background information about the main protagonists. The actors are good.

The music (by David Arnold) is just perfect for the movie. It fits the theme, the characters and the action.

Hot Fuzz is an interesting police action / thriller comedy, I think fans of the genre will enjoy it.

My experience

I was satisfied with Hot Fuzz (2007). I happen to like stories with well-thought, logical plots, and Hot Fuzz delivered just that.

Rating: Great (3 out of 3 points). Hot Fuzz is a well-made film, with an interesting story, and cool twists.

Enjoyment: Great (3 out of 3 points). Hot Fuzz is interesting, I liked it very much.

Rewatchability: High. If you watch the movie a second time, you'll appreciate the minor details better.

Chance of watching it again: There's a chance. Even though I've seen it a couple of times, I still like it enough that I might watch it in the right circumstances.

Chance of watching a sequel: High. I'd sure watch it.

Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

Will you enjoy this?

If you like mystery or thriller movies, you might like Hot Fuzz.

If you like action movies, you might like Hot Fuzz.

If you like horror or action thriller movies, you might like the film, although there are not many scary scenes in the Hot Fuzz movie.

If you enjoyed the Shaun of the Dead, you might be interested in this story, made by the same creative team.

If you like to be surprised by the development of events, there are plenty of fun twists in the movie.

If you like twists of expectations, you might enjoy this movie immensely.

If you prefer visuals over story, the movie still has cool scenes to watch.

If you hate comedy, this movie is probably not for you.

Do you need to see the other films mentioned in the movie to enjoy this?

Although the story builds on knowledge about specific action movies, there's enough explanation that you'll understand what's going on without seeing those films first.

Watching for plot points

If you are interested in mystery or crime stories, I think it's worth watching the Hot Fuzz movie for the plot points.

Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?

The visuals probably look better if you watch it in cinema, but I think the overall experience will be similar.

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Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

Review with spoilers - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

I liked the Hot Fuzz movie.

Cover

The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.

The trailer

The trailer spoils large parts of the movie.

If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Hot Fuzz film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.

Promise of the first scene

We are going to see some tense police action.

Execution: After the second scene we get a shocking twist, that makes us regret choosing this movie if we wanted police action, but then the action comes back with a vengeance, and we get more than we were promised.

Plot summary / Synopsis

There's a police officer (Simon Pegg as Nicholas Angel), who is so good, he makes the other looks bad, so he gets transferred to a seemingly peaceful village.

The police officer finds his colleagues (Paddy Considine as Andy Wainwright, Bill Bailey as Sergeant Turner, Olivia Colman as Doris Thatcher, Kevin Eldon as Tony Fisher, Rafe Spall as Andy Cartwright) ineffective. He gets a partner (Nick Frost as Danny Butterman), the son of the police chief (Jim Broadbent as Frank Butterman).

Deaths happen, that look like accidents, but the police officer thinks they are murders. The others see him as someone too eager to find crimes where there is none.

The police officer suspects there's a connection between these deaths, and seemingly uncovers the criminal conspiracy of the supermarket owner, Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton).

After he is attacked by a supermarket employee (Rory McCann as Michael Armstrong / "Lurch"), he finds out, he was wrong, and although there's a criminal conspiracy, and the deaths were really murders, it didn't have anything to do with his suspicions. Most of the village leaders are part of the conspiracy, including the police chief.

The police officer escapes with the help of his partner. They convince the others of the police force to help them uncover the whole criminal operation. They manage to defeat the bad guys, although in the end, the police station is destroyed in an explosion.

The setting

The story is set on contemporary Earth, probably the year of 2007.

Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

The message of the story

I'm not sure there's one.

The structure of the story

The scenes of the Hot Fuzz film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline. It begins with a montage of events as an introduction, but then it runs sequentially. There is a part with voice-over flashbacks, to remind the viewer. There is foreshadowing to later events.

There's no single viewpoint character, but apart from the murder scenes, the viewpoint character is Nicholas Angel.

It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution.

Fan-service

Throughout the movie there are plenty of references to other action films, we even see scenes from Bad Boys 2 (2003) and Point Break (1991).

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Things I liked

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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?

It's probably one of the best movie of the writer / director (Edgar Wright). I've seen a couple of his movies. Shaun of the Dead is on par with Hot Fuzz. Dead Right has some funny parts, but it's too long for the story. The Adventures of Tintin and Ant-man was okay. I didn't like the Scott Pilgrim movie, but as it's an adaptation maybe it's the fault of the source material.

I've seen some of the works of the writer pair (Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg). Hot Fuzz was probably their best work, but Shaun of the Dead is also fun. Spaced was okay. The World's End was a bit of a let down.

I have to admit that I didn't like Simon Pegg's own screenplays. Run Fatboy Run, Paul and Star Trek Beyond were pretty weak compared to his works with Edgar Wright.

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Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

Analysis of the story - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

I mostly liked the story, I didn't find problems that would have prevented me from enjoying Hot Fuzz.

Problematic elements

Unanswered questions

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Possibilities of improvement

How it could have been better?

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Behind the scenes

Thoughts about the reviews of others

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Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)
image © Universal Studios (Comcast)

Uses for the film - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

Plot

• A character works so well that it makes his colleagues look bad, so he gets moved to another facility.
• The people of a place are so obsessed with creating the perfect place that they are ready to murder anyone who gets in their way.
• A friend/co-worker of the protagonist is also part of the enemy. He seemingly betrays the protagonist, but actually he tries to help him get away.

Scenes

• The start of the movie is a great way to establish a cool police officer

Designs

Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas

Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas

A side-mission to other scenarios: Something important is lost. During other games, the missing thing appears in the playing area (strolls by, moved by the captors, teleports in). This happens randomly, stays in the game for a random time, and every time there's a chance that it won't appear again, being lost forever. The side that is interested in it gets in a worse situation if it tries to recover the missing thing, but in the long term, they should achieve this, and they might not get another chance to get it.

Multi-part scenario: In a multi-part scenario, there is a disagreement between forces. One unarmed envoy is sent to talk with the leaders of the others. The envoy and the members of the other force are deployed in the middle of the playing area. The other force betrays the envoy, as they have hidden archaic close combat weapons that are hard to detect. The envoy has a cache of ranged weapons in a place (army outpost, police precinct, armed dropship). If the envoy reaches that place, he gets a chance to kill the enemies. Otherwise, if he leaves the playing area alive, he can take revenge later. The envoy wins the scenario, if he leaves the playing area, or if he is the last model alive. The envoy wins the whole game if he manages to defeat every single member of the other group. The other group wins the whole game if they kill the envoy. The abilities of the leaders are lower than those of the envoys, but there are more of them.

Next scenario: The attacking force has to get to the fortress of the enemy. The place is in an urban setting, where the streets are occupied by large groups of civilians. These civilians can be counters if you don't have enough civilian models in your collection. Among these civilians, there are some members of the enemy leaders. The player of the defending force has all the leaders who survived the previous scenario, and the player has to decide whether to use them here, or leave them for the next scenario. The attacking force has to reach the far edge of the playing area to win this scenario. The defending player can reveal any civilian to be a combatant as long as it is not in sight of any of the attackers, or as a reaction to getting into the sight of them. The leaders can retreat into the fortress to make the next scenario easier for the defenders. When close combat breaks out, the civilians in line of sight try to get to the closest edge of the area, to get away. The defender can assign a leader character among them instead of running away. The attackers get minus points for damaging property or civilians in the area. If they just start to shoot everyone, they immediately lose the whole game - the attackers are called back, and by the time a new team arrives, the defenders are long gone. The attackers can retreat to the edge of the playing area to leave and regroup. The attacker wins the scenario if they reach the fortress, or if they defeat all of the leaders in the scenario. The attacker wins the whole game if all of the defending leaders are killed. The defender wins the scenario if they make the attackers retreat. The defender wins the whole game if they kill all of the attackers. If the attackers retreated, the civilians won't be present in the city around the fortress, so they can start the next scenario without further interruption.

Last scenario: The attackers breach the fortress, and they have to defeat the enemy, hiding in that position. The attackers have only those units that survive the previous scenario. The defenders have only as many leaders who were assigned into the fortress, and those who have successfully retreated in the previous scenario. The defenders also have some goons, but they are more of a distraction to the abilities of the attackers. If the attackers had to retreat in the previous scenario, the defender can put booby traps in the fortress. The defender can also assign a number of leaders to another fortress, so when the attackers finish this place, they have to do the same again.

Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)

Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.

Civilian cultists: Human-sized (S3) modern civilians, hiding weapons under their clothes, in their bags.

Police officers: Human-sized (S3) modern police officers.

Swan: Very small (S1) wild waterfowl bird (swan).

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Similar stories - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

Movies

Oh, Mr Porter! (1937): In a then contemporary setting, a man is sent to a position in an isolated, but seemingly peaceful village. His predecessors have died or disappeared in mysterious circumstances. His colleagues are unprofessional, so he tries to shake things up, until he is forced to leave. However, he returns, to uncover a criminal conspiracy. There's an explosion in the end.

The Wicker Man (1973): In a then contemporary setting, a policeman arrives in an isolated, but seemingly peaceful village. He seemingly uncovers a criminal conspiracy, but it turns out he was mislead. There's some fire in the end. The Wicker Man is less light-hearted than Hot Fuzz.

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Frequently asked questions - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

Is the Hot Fuzz film based on a book or comics?

No, Hot Fuzz is not based on either books or comics.

Is the Hot Fuzz film a remake or reboot?

No, the Hot Fuzz film is neither a remake nor a reboot.

Is there a post credit scene in Hot Fuzz? Does Hot Fuzz have end credit scenes?

No, there's no post credit scene in Hot Fuzz.

Where can I see Hot Fuzz? What is Hot Fuzz playing on? What streaming service is Hot Fuzz on? Where can I watch Hot Fuzz online? Is Hot Fuzz available on Netflix? Is Hot Fuzz on Amazon?

As of 2022.02.05, Hot Fuzz is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft TV, Vudu, YouTube.

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Resources - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

Official

Focus Features: Hot Fuzz: Official article.

https://www.facebook.com/focusfeatures

https://twitter.com/focusfeatures

https://www.instagram.com/focusfeatures/

https://www.facebook.com/HotFuzzMovie/

Information

IMDB: Hot Fuzz (2007): Database article.

WikiPedia: Hot Fuzz: Database article.

Letterboxd: Hot Fuzz 2007: Database article.

Rotten Tomatoes: Hot Fuzz 2007: Database article.

TVTropes: Film / Hot Fuzz: Database article.

Creation

: Concept art article.¤

Reviews with no spoilers - Hot Fuzz film (2007)

: Review video about the Hot Fuzz film with no spoilers.¤

Reviews with spoilers - Hot Fuzz film (2007)

: Review article of the Hot Fuzz movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤

Analysis - Hot Fuzz movie (2007)

: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Hot Fuzz.¤

https://crossthenetflixstream.blogspot.com/2018/07/hot-fuzz-movie-review.html

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Buying the product - Hot Fuzz, movie (2007)

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Have you seen the Hot Fuzz film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!