Shaun of the Dead was great fun, although somewhat uneven as the movie falls apart somewhat as it draws to the end (IMHO). Hot Fuzz fixed that and is a very well-rounded experience with a unique blend of humour, action and mystery and a great team chemistry by Pegg and Frost. Thus, i expected something in that vein with a touch of The Body Snatchers blended in. Unfortunately, this movie has got very little of that magic.
(SPOILERS present)
It starts much too slow, most of the main characters don't bring anything fun or interesting to the movie (the other three main actors) and a lot of time initially is wasted in some boring dialogs to give them some introduction and depth (or at least try to). Pegg's character's childish behaviour gets tiring soon as he is basically the only one out of five who is actually contributing to the movie. So, instead of them doing their fun stuff, they are dragged into some side- story about growing up (and refusing to in Pegg's case) and old romantic interests which actually takes most of the movie over. And the parts which were supposed to be serious/scary (the Body Snatchers taking over the town) were on the other hand represented in a simplistic and silly way (alien robots which leak blue stuff when disassembled). So, in a way, this movie reverses everything which worked with the previous movie. Thus, we are forced to go through long boring uninspiring non- funny dialogs between characters with little to no chemistry between them going through too many bars and (later) fighting the same robots over and over again until the anticlimactic showdown (although some of the Pegg exchange with the aliens is providing some relief) followed by clichéd and overly protracted epilogue.
It feels like the authors had a few general ideas about the movie, but either they were not inspired at all in developing it into a full blown movie or those ideas were too few. Watchable for a few laughs here and there, but more as a melancholic reminder of past times (and music).
(SPOILERS present)
It starts much too slow, most of the main characters don't bring anything fun or interesting to the movie (the other three main actors) and a lot of time initially is wasted in some boring dialogs to give them some introduction and depth (or at least try to). Pegg's character's childish behaviour gets tiring soon as he is basically the only one out of five who is actually contributing to the movie. So, instead of them doing their fun stuff, they are dragged into some side- story about growing up (and refusing to in Pegg's case) and old romantic interests which actually takes most of the movie over. And the parts which were supposed to be serious/scary (the Body Snatchers taking over the town) were on the other hand represented in a simplistic and silly way (alien robots which leak blue stuff when disassembled). So, in a way, this movie reverses everything which worked with the previous movie. Thus, we are forced to go through long boring uninspiring non- funny dialogs between characters with little to no chemistry between them going through too many bars and (later) fighting the same robots over and over again until the anticlimactic showdown (although some of the Pegg exchange with the aliens is providing some relief) followed by clichéd and overly protracted epilogue.
It feels like the authors had a few general ideas about the movie, but either they were not inspired at all in developing it into a full blown movie or those ideas were too few. Watchable for a few laughs here and there, but more as a melancholic reminder of past times (and music).