Considering I’ve been raving about Hot Fuzz for what feels like forever, It feels slightly pointless writing a review of it. I’m almost tired of it, but I think I might actually just be weary of hearing myself rave about it rather than tired of the film itself. Somehow, i’ll find the strength deep inside myself to struggle through. Life is tough, I know it.

With their first foray on to the big-screen ‘Shaun of the Dead’, director Edgar Wright and co-writer/star Simon Pegg made an almost near perfect film. The problem of course being that when you set such a high standard for yourself straight out of the gate, the expectations and pressure to deliver associated with your follow-up is immense. The second film is either going to show the way a director is going to perform through the rest of his career or be the ‘difficult second albwwum’ that drives them face first into the ground. While not quite as flawless as ‘Shaun’, ‘Hot Fuzz’ is cinematic genius, and an admirable follow-up to the best(only) zombie-rom-com i’ve ever seen.

Hot Fuzz’s few minor flaws are all easily overcome by the films many varied strong points. The film manages to juggle a large cast of famous faces around the leads without anyone ever becoming a forgettable character, it nods to explosive cop-based action films and manages to sex-up the British constabulary (so to speak) at the same time, it also deftly handles the mix of comedy, occasional drama, and things exploding. Hot Fuzz also does something that Edgar has always been good at; hitting you with something quick and funny, and sneaking up the subtle jokes on you like a mild sex-disease at the same time. That’s a good thing, despite how I phrased it.

If you’ve seen the trailer you know the basic plot, and I don’t want to spoil anything by going too heavily into it, so I won’t. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a top London cop who is forced into transferring to a Sergeant’s position in the sleepy West country village of Sandford after outshining all his fellow metropolitan officers by being simply too good at his job. The pace of life in Sandford is a little slower than Sergeant Angel is used to, so slow in fact it’s classified as the safest place to live in England.

The police ‘force’ in Sandford contains a host of British comedy alumni, including of course Pegg’s brother-from-another-mother Nick Frost. Frost plays Danny, an affable idiot-manchild who joined the force because his dad (Jim Broadbent) is the Chief Inspector and there was nothing better to do. Danny is partnered with Sergeant Angel and put on patrol around Sandford, where they deal with policing the small town; settling arguments over hedges, catching runaway swans and dealing with the Neighbourhood watch (led by none other than ‘The Equaliser’ himself, Edward Woodward). The whole scenario is of course capped off by a great turn from Paddy Considine as Angel’s nemesis Detective Wainwright and his ‘Danny’ Detective Cartwright played by Rafe “you’ve got red on you” Spall.

The pace is quickly established and Wright ploughs through scenes that could be considered padding with his flash-cuts and frenetic imagery but slows it all down when he needs to. It’s a style he started using on ‘Spaced’ and it still holds up and stops the film from ever feeling flabby. An An argument could be made that the quick montages grow a bit tiring when spread over two hours, but the slower scenes that sit in between relieve any weariness you might be feeling.

The great thing about ‘Shaun’ was that the jokes are layered and the same applies to ‘Hot Fuzz’, There’s the occasional belly laugh at a movie reference or a line thrown in from Bad Boys 2, or at a piece of slapstick humour. Then there’s the more intelligent jokes that are funny but then pay off with a bigger laugh later on when they’re re-referenced. Then there’s jokes that are so subtle that it’ll take you subsequent viewings to catch them all.

The beauty in Wright and Pegg’s script and direction is that it feels crafted, like they spent months pouring over the script weaving in new jokes and references but than knocking it all back and refining it so it always feels crafted and never turns into parody. A ‘Scary Movie’ version of a cop action movie was never where ‘Hot Fuzz’ was heading, and for that we can all be thankful.

Pegg and Frost still have great chemistry on screen and it shows no signs of fading as their acting partnership goes from strength to strength; they laugh, they cry, and they eat Cornettos and watch ‘Point Break’ together. That’s a friendship any red blooded man would want.

‘Hot Fuzz’ was hilarious when I saw it the first time round, and genius the second time around. While it does suffer slightly from a “this is the end.. no wait… this is the end” ‘Return of the King’ style wrap-up, you never feel let down by anything that happens in the last half hour, and the first hour and a half keeps you smiling and laughing up until the point when “the shit gets real”. The mix of comedy and occasional drama is handled well, just as it was in ‘Shaun’ and balanced evenly through a film laden with character actors, comedy veterans and famous cameo’s from the past and the present. If there’s one film this year that deserves to be seen in a packed cinema on opening night then watched again the next night just to catch the jokes you missed, it’s Hot Fuzz.

Hot Fuzz is released in the UK today, February the 14th, and In the states on April the 13th

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Check out the Hot Fuzz trailer here