Simon Pegg co-wrote with Jessica Hynes and appeared in one of my favourite TV series – Spaced so it was no great surprise to me when I absolutely loved Hot Fuzz. Pegg and Haynes’ awesome ability to keep me in stitches on such a big scale in Spaced continued through Shaun Of The Dead, and now I’m happy to confirm that Pegg is still on tip top form in Hot Fuzz.

Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, an over-performing policeman whose record is 400% better than average and is sent by his superiors (Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan and Martin Freeman) to rural Sandford (actually Wells in Somerset) against his will so he doesn’t upset his colleagues. In a deleted scene we learn that the crime rate in London rises by 400% after he is sent to away. This DVD actually contains deleted scenes that are worth watching, unlike an awful lot of films.

But Sandford is not the sleepy crime-free hamlet that it appears. Partnered with clumsy but genuine “police man officer” Danny Butterman (Nick Frost who plays Mike Watt in Spaced) Nicholas Angel soon starts to have his frustration over the lack of action in Sandford (in another deleted scene he tests his radio because he thinks it isn’t working, but actually there is just no police radio traffic in Sandford) replaced with a frustration that his new colleagues can’t see that the grisly murders that are being perpetrated are not accidents, but a huge series of related crimes.

The level of action in the film builds until it culminates as a no holds barred action film, with great cinematic references to classic action films. The cinematic references are a constant theme in Pegg’s work, handled very academically in Spaced. In Hot Fuzz some of the cinematic references are very subtle, while some are very obvious and brilliant, like their recreation of scenes in Bad Boys II and Point Break.

Obviously I recommend this film heartily, but it is worth mentioning that there are a few gruesome scenes, such as the one outside the church so I think that in this case the minimum age rating is worth adhering to.

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Full cast list for Hot Fuzz: Adam Buxton, Alexander King, Alice Lowe, Anne Reid, Ben McKay, Bill Bailey, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Cate Blanchett, Chris Waitt, Colin Michael Carmichael, David Bradley, David Threlfall, Edgar Wright, Edward Woodward, Elizabeth Elvin, Elvis, Eric Mason, Garth Jennings, Graham Low, Jim Broadbent, Joe Cornish, Julia Deakin, Karl Johnson, Kenneth Cranham, Kevin Eldon, Kevin Wilson, Lorraine Hilton, Lucy Punch, Maria Charles, Martin Freeman, Nicholas Wilson, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Patricia Franklin, Paul Freeman, Peter Jackson, Peter Wight, Rafe Spall, Robert Popper, Ron Cook, Rory Lowings, Rory McCann, Sampson, Simon Pegg, Stephen Merchant, Steve Coogan, Stuart Wilson, Tim Barlow, Timothy Dalton, Tom Strode Walton, Trevor Nichols, Troy Woollan.