Following the style of 'Shaun of the Dead', the next film in Edgar Wright's comedic trilogy is 'Hot Fuzz'. A film that appeals more to Brits than anyone else, due to its dull, seemingly crimeless setting of the slow countryside.
With that spin, the film immediately pulls in your attention. It's safe to say most expect a film about police offers to take place in a crime-filled state or city, and the fact that we get the complete opposite is a clear indication of the simplicity behind Edgar Wright's approach to the comedic genre.
This is your typical buddy cop comedy film, for sure, but as with 'Shaun of the Dead', Hot Fuzz is a film filmed with meaning that can easily be overlooked amidst the quick jokes, nonsensical characters, and glorified death scenes.
With the London Police being fed up of Nicholas Angel's (Simon Pegg) passion for the job -- making endless arrests and taking everything so seriously -- he's transferred to a new assignment, which just so happens to be in a tiny British village called Sanford.
Edgar Wright uses his well-known transitions to inject comedy and the passing of time into establishing a new scene or a new setting, and in the case of Hot Fuzz, it's used to display the most mundane of actions and events: filling out paperwork, or the long travel from city life to countryside that seems almost otherworldly.
Taking his seriousness for the job all the way to Sanford, Nicholas is welcomed with many rule-bending citizens and quickly gets to work on issuing the fair punishment for their crimes, but things are very different in Sanford, which he soon learns from the other police officers that seem to not care too much. Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), one of such police officers that loves his job and longs for a bit more action, becomes friends with Nicholas fairly quickly.
Ripe with meaning, Danny is essentially everything Nicholas should be: he's outgoing, caring, fun, but also takes his job seriously. This is what Nicholas has been failing to do for years as he lives and breathes work with very little time being made to relax and just enjoy little things. We see Nicholas slightly changing throughout the film, loosening up a bit, but still remaining relatively stiff about doing so. Danny introduces him into a world where, as well as in the village, life is slower and meant to be enjoyed at a slower pace. Village life is quiet, perhaps not as peaceful as previously thought, but certainly the complete opposite to what Nicholas has experienced all his life.
Where Simon Pegg's character was being pulled down by Nick Frost's character in 'Shaun of the Dead', the roles are reversed with Nick Frost's being the very thing that Nicholas needs to see the importance of enjoying life and not just living to work, whether what you do is what you love or not.
