- "Big cops. Small town. Moderate violence."
- ―Tagline
Hot Fuzz is the second film co-written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. It was released in 2007, and focuses on the action and buddy-cop genres. It stars Simon Pegg as Nicholas Angel, Nick Frost as Danny Butterman, Timothy Dalton as Simon Skinner and Jim Broadbent as Frank Butterman.
Plot[]
Nicholas Angel, an extremely dedicated police officer in London's Metropolitan Police Service, performs his duties so well that he is accused of making his colleagues look bad. As a result, his superiors transfer him to the seemingly crime-free village of Sandford in rural Gloucestershire.
Once there, he immediately arrests a large group of underage drinkers and a drunk driver, who turns out to be his eventual partner, Danny Butterman, a well-meaning but naive police constable, the son of local police inspector Frank Butterman. A serious action film fan, Danny is in awe of his new big city partner, who just might provide him with his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he longs for. Angel struggles to adjust to the slow, uneventful pace of the village. Despite clearing up several otherwise unnoticed crimes in short order, including confiscating a sea mine and a number of unlicensed firearms, Angel soon finds his most pressing concern to be an escaped swan. His strict attention to the letter of the law also makes him the focus of dislike by some of his co-workers. However, Angel and Danny eventually bond over drinks at the local pub and action films.
Soon after Angel's arrival, a series of murders disguised as accidents rock the village, all committed by a figure in a black hood and cloak. Increasingly convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and that the victims of the 'accidents' were murdered, Angel begins to clash with his colleagues. He refuses to drop the investigation and in front of several police officers announces his arrest of Simon Skinner, the smarmy manager of the local Somerfield supermarket, of murdering the victims due to their involvement in a lucrative property deal. When Skinner provides plausible explanations for all of Angel's charges and goes free, the incident further damages Angel's credibility with his colleagues.
After being attacked in his hotel room by the cloaked murderer, whom he knocks unconscious and reveals to be Michael Armstrong, the enormous trolley boy of the Somerfield acting on Skinner's orders, Angel is led to a nearby castle where he discovers the truth; Inspector Butterman, Skinner, and the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance (NWA), intent on keeping Sandford's title of "Village of the Year", have been murdering anyone who they saw as a threat to the village's quaint and charming image. The fact that all the murders that occurred after Angel arrived could be tied together in a property scheme is a coincidence, each victim having been murdered for more trivial reasons. Inspector Butterman reveals that his wife committed suicide after the village lost the title many years ago, motivating him to use extreme methods. Angel discovers the bodies of various "problem" people whom the NWA disposed of before and since his arrival, before being cornered and 'stabbed' by Danny, apparently a member of the NWA.
Having tricked the NWA into believing that Angel is dead, Danny drives him to the village limits and releases him, insisting that he knew nothing about their true activities. Danny urges Angel to go back to London, reasoning that no one would believe the truth about Sandford. However, while at a motorway service station, Angel sees the action films he and Danny watched on a nearby DVD rack and is inspired to stop the NWA. He drives back to town and arms himself with the firearms he confiscated earlier. After Angel meets with Danny in the village, the two begin to dispatch the members of the NWA in an increasingly destructive and frantic series of gun fights. Confronted by their colleagues, who are quickly persuaded of the truth, Angel and Danny take the battle to the supermarket. Skinner and Inspector Butterman flee, and are pursued by Angel and Danny to a nearby miniature park. There, Angel battles Skinner, who accidentally impales himself on the spire of the miniature cathedral. Inspector Butterman attempts to escape in a car, but crashes into a tree when the swan Angel caught attacks him from the back seat.
Angel's former superiors arrive from London begging him to return, as their crime rate has risen, but Angel chooses to remain in Sandford. Back at the police station, Tom Weaver, the last remaining member of the NWA, attempts to shoot Angel, but Danny jumps in the way and takes the shot. In the resulting chaos, the confiscated sea mine is triggered and the station is destroyed.
One year later, Angel lays flowers on a grave marked 'Butterman'; it is revealed that Danny has survived and the grave is his mother's. Angel has been promoted to inspector as the new head of the Sandford Police Service and Danny to sergeant, and they go back on the beat together in Sandford.