Hot Fuzz is a Movie to Study

For any who have not seen last year's Hot Fuzz, you are thoroughly missing out. Two nights ago I watched the movie for a second time, with a much greater appreciation. On a first viewing I enjoyed it, but seeing it a second time solidified it as a film instead of a movie.

[note: there will be a decent amount of spoilers after the jump]

The film works on multiple levels. First, we have the whodunit, the cop trying to find a murderer, some brutal deaths (which work because they are so over-the-top vivid), and it all fits together seamlessly. A lesser movie would have had Nick Angel been right in all his research and guesswork that Skinner was the main bad guy. That would have been the climax of the film, with more fluff inserted before. However, this film has our hero go astray, completely missing the more basic point of how every one of the victims was hurting the town's chances at the award. This ridiculous end-game leads us to the second point.

On another level the film works as a comedy. And it works well. There are many subtle, but also many slapstick moments. Elements of parody (which are also comedy) fall into my third level, so we'll pass on those for now. Consider, though, how the movie gets away with jokes. Toward the very beginning of the movie the police are talking about going through the whole phone book, and how they will start with Aaron A. Aaronson. The comedy works immediately, but at almost the closing moments of the film, we actually meet Aaron Aaronson in person. Most movies would have pulled this out sooner, but Hot Fuzz catches us off-guard. While we're still contemplating all the twists and turns of the mystery up to this point -- completely forgetting that small scene earlier -- we meet Aaron, and I erupted in laughter.

The third way this film works is as a parody. And not a parody like Epic Movie or Meet the Spartans, but Hot Fuzz is self-aware. We're not surprised when Nick and Danny do all the things from Point Break and Bad Boys II, but the moments parodied are fluid, not forced, and that is why it works so well.

I don't like writing conclusions, so I will finish this later. Maybe.