6 August 2007
Hot Fuzz (2006)
A bit stylistically annoying, it must be said. I can appreciate a good Michael Bay quick-cut mockery, but the doors and the lockers and everything over and over again… The joke, I suppose, was how damn committed they were to it, re-using the same shot again and again and again for each door knob. But a stylistic contrivance so bombastic not only creates a weird pacing issue, but becomes utterly grating, even if it has huge ironic quotes around it.
And let me just say that I find Jim Broadbent to be watchable in just about anything. His face is completely delightful, in serious things like Iris and obnoxious movies, as in Moulin Rouge. I kind of wish he’d call me a gosling. Pre-eminently known for British stage-work, I really wish he’d come to New York and do something. Just thinking of him tightening his garter belt, trying to make out with a squeaky Jennifer Tilly, and stopping it all to shove a little poultry into his mouth gives me a bit of a chuckle.
And if Timothy Dalton is Evil (just look at him offering the hero a cookie), the actual circumstances and context of that Evil manages to be somewhat surprising (“but he murdered Shakespeare!”) and amusing. Of course there had to be some kind of explanation for all those exploding body parts.