Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton
Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure.
Did I Like It: I’ve always thought it was a fair bit less than Shaun of the Dead (2004), but that may be too quick of a judgment. For one thing, Timothy Dalton is in the movie, and I’ve long since stopped pretending that every movie he appears in isn’t great. Doubly so for any film in which (spoiler) he’s the bad guy. Yep, I’m counting both The Rocketeer (1991) and the 2009 Doctor Who Christmas special.
Maybe the film grew on me after I finally saw The Wicker Man (1973), because as much as this film owes a debt to movies like Point Blank (1991) and Bad Boys II (2003), it’s entire structure owes far more to that singularly British horror film. I think it has far more to do with the fact that it becomes far more resonant with American audiences not because it plays with the fundamental imagery and impulses of the Western, but more that the deep, evil at the core of Sandford is about preserving some kind of image that the Chamber of Commerce has for the town. It’s going to be a long, long time before anyone uses the syntax “Make (blank Great Again” and any American evolved beyond single-cells doesn’t laugh with derision. Doesn’t matter if the film pre-dates the dark times by a decade.
The most likely, answer, however, is that I really don’t want to make the kind of comparisons that rank trilogies—even loose ones—and series. Just because Shaun caught everyone by surprise, doesn't mean that Hot Fuzz is less. It still has pop culture awareness to spare, while still offering a dynamic enough story, the hallmark of Wright. It still has pitch-perfect performances by both Pegg and Frost. There’s nothing more one should try to expect from a film.