Hot Fuzz [2007] (English): A refreshingly comic action movie parody

Have you ever suffered reprimand for being over-competent?
Have you been transferred to a remote country-side village as a reward for your over-competence?
Did your girlfriend dump you because you are more in love with your work? And is she right
Is your new work-place too good to be true?
Have you ever felt that you are the only one who thinks something fishy is going on there, and no one believes you?

If yes, then you will identify with the protagonist of this movie, Nicholas Angel, played by Simon Pegg - a very competent and workaholic police officer (a.k.a. "Fuzz" in local slang). Too competent for his own good... Ditto for being a workaholic... The department rewards him for his good work by transferring him to a remote village in the "country". Its a nice little village, where crime is virtually unknown. For an ambitious and workaholic Fuzz from the City, this is a nightmare. The attitude of the Police department is laid-back and lax. The most challenging task he is entrusted is to track down a missing swan. Nothing is going well it seems. Until one day there is an accident that kills two people. But was it really an accident? Officer Angel believes not. But in a village where the "M" word has not been heard of for decades, no one will believe him... And the truth, as it turns out, is even more sinister than officer Angel had thought...

The movie hooked me right from the start. The logic of Angel's supervisors for transferring him is flawless. The reasons for his Girlfriend to leave him are not at all irrational. His introduction to the village and its folk, and his interactions with them is anything but cordial. 

There is another reason for the movie's quick pick-up. All these sequences are portrayed without "mincing the words" so to speak. Its a unique style employed by the movie-makers - they show quick short snippets of things happening, one after the other in quick succession, to convey an idea. For instance, Angel's journey from London to Sanford village is portrayed using little 2-3 second consecutive shots of him traveling in a taxi, then in a train, and then again in a cab... Due to this quick snappy portrayal of certain events that need not be prolonged unnecessarily, the movie runs along at a steady clip.

The mystery behind the deaths will reel you in. You will never guess who the suspects are. And their motives behind these crimes are so unbelievable that they sound utterly realistic and logical.

The only thing that robs points from this movie is the climax. This is where it mutates from a nice little comic but intricate murder mystery to an action parody. It was an utter let down for me. Even though the rest of the movie was pretty nice.

Hot Fuzz is the second part of the Flavours Cornetto Trilogy.

But don't let this little fact stop you from watching it, just because you have not watched the first part. The three parts are not related. In fact, apart from the facts that:

• they are all directed and co-authored by Edgar Wright
• they feature actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
• each of the movies afford the audience pure fun at the expense of a specific genre, and
• each one features in it a specific flavour of Cornetto

there is nothing else common between the three movies that form this Trilogy. So believe me, you are not missing out on anything if you watch this one without having watched its "prequel" (Shaun of the Dead). Nor does it leave any untied ends to be tied up in its "sequel" (The World's End). It is a "stand-alone" movie, thank you.

My Ratings: 2.5

T3I: Skeleton Island - Finally some one made a T3I movie

At first there were the fairies and the giants, magicians and evil witches, magic and myth that made up the major mass of kid stories for ages. Then they became a bit more sensible when mystery and adventure were used to make these stories entertaining. But this era of relatively rational kid stories did not last long. The kid story genre was thrust into the Dark Ages as once more the crutches of magic and fantasy were used to entertain kids, instead of real-life down to earth adventures. But before the rise of this Dark Age, there were the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Famous Five... and the Three Investigators...

As a kid, I stumbled upon T3I while reading a Hardy Boys book. At the back was a full list of titles. Mystery of the Terror Castle, Haunted Mirror, Moaning Caves, Talking Skull. The titles captured my imagination. Soon I had my first T3I book in my hands and I was hooked. For the longest time, I trawled the net in search of any TV serial, any movie, animated or otherwise, about the T3I. After reading the books, staring at the covers and the illustrations for long wistful moments, I was eager to see the terror castle, the haunted mirror, the Jones Salvage yard, the T3I headquarters. But alas! No one seemed to be interested in making a TV series or a movie on such an awesome series. Sad...

And then, a few days back, I stumbled upon this movie. The Three Investigators - Secret of Skeleton Island. Someone had finally made a movie out of one of the T3I books! I had to watch it! And I did.

The story is nice. It has its usual set of ups and downs. Suspense and Puzzles. Humour and action. But as far as I remember, it is not faithful to the actual story in the book. There are quite a few differences. But that does not make it in any way boring or uninteresting.
The cinematography is quite nice. The shots of some of the natural beauty of South Africa are quite breath-taking. So much so, that it looks more like an advertisement for SA Tourism rather than a T3I movie.

The direction is OK - your standard one for Kids movies. But some of the sets and props are quite nice. The Jones Salvage Yard and the T3I headquarters are quite nicely and imaginatively portrayed in the movie.

The actors have acted well. Especially the kids playing the three investigators kind of fit their roles quite well. Jupiter's acting was good, and so was Pete's. Bob's was a bit over-done, but it was charming in its own way.

Frankly speaking, I was a bit disappointed. Being a die-hard hard-core fan of T3I, I find it disappointing that the movie-makers took the liberty to change the actual story to such an extent. Agreed, it was targeted at South African audience. Yet, for me it was disappointing. Moreover, I have always thought, that the T3I would make a great animated TV series. It they would stick to the original story-line, it would make a great series. So the portrayal of T3I as a real-life movie was a bit disappointing to me, personally.

And yet, the try was worth it. Our generation of kids enjoyed the T3I books so much. And I wish that the kids nowadays, who are so enamored to Harry Potter and similar new-age stuff, should be introduced to the T3I universe. And I hope that this movie (and its companion "Secret of Terror Castle" - which I plan to watch soon) would prove an ideal platform for doing just that.

My Ratings: 2.5