I’m feeling a little tired this morning. Four hour’s sleep just doesn’t even come close to being enough for me these days. Still it was worth it because not only did we get to see “Hot Fuzz” we also got to hear Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright talk about the making of the film. They jokingly described it as a Hot Police Romp (or HoPoRo); it’s the story of an overachieving London policeman (Simon Pegg) transferred to a seemingly sleepy village when his big city colleagues feel he is showing them up. There he is paired up with a slightly dim but lovable village police officer (Nick Frost) who thinks his new partner has just stepped out of Bad Boys or Point Break.
Inevitably the question I keep getting is “Was it as good as Shaun of the Dead?” and to be absolutely honest I would have to say that no, Shaun is still leagues ahead. Hot Fuzz seemed slower, more cumbersome at times and for me it lacked the swing of emotions, from laughter, to scary, to genuinely touching, that made Shaun of the Dead something a little bit more than just a comedy. Still, this film has it’s share of very clever humour and the film really picks up and comes into its own in the second half. The action and laughs (and gore of course) all ratchet up a few notches in the last half hour. Before then there is a sense that perhaps they had a few too many cool ideas that they just couldn’t bear to edit out or there were just so many people lining up to have a cameo part that getting all those actors introduced and worked into the storyline weighed it down.
I hate saying anything bad about it though, since I walked out of the cinema with a smile on my face and I know I’ll buy the DVD and watch it again. Especially for the extras which they told us include a new Michael Caine, Sean Connery version of one of the scenes from the movie.
The three guys didn’t stay to watch, they had to run off to the Meteor Awards after they’d introduced the film to present an award to Westlife. They got back just as the credits were rolling and sat down at the front of the screen for the Q&A. I got the impression that they are incredibly nice guys, genuinely bowled over at their popularity and appreciative of their fans. They talked about how Shaun of the Dead had come out of where they were living at the time (East London) whereas Hot Fuzz was more a film about where they grew up. Their preparation for writing the script came through watching hours and hours of police movies just like the ones Nick Frost’s character is a fan of in the film.
I only wish they could have spoken more, or at least answered more questions from the audience. Only a couple of people got to ask anything because the compere’s questions went on so long. People were mumbling that he was someone from TV3 but he didn’t introduce himself properly…I guess he just presumed everyone recognised him. His questions weren’t even proper questions, more like rambling statements that he’d finally offer to the guys to either agree or disagree with.
Annoying Irish telly interviewer aside, we had a great night. I would say definitely go and see this film, like Nick Frost’s character would say, “You just have to learn to switch off.”
