AHHHHH! |
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[Note: this column is not going to explain the plot of the film, nor what I mean by "the boys" or "the Holy Trinity". Unfortunately for those not in the know, this one is for the Wright/Pegg/Frost insiders only. If you're not in that club, we're real friendly and the dues are quite affordable. Now, on with the show!]
I vowed not to do a Christmas movie column, and I likewise vowed not to do a year-end wrap-up column. So it is providential that my last column of 2007 just so happens to be on what I would consider to be the best film of 2007. I can already hear the cries of, "What?! You mean GRINDHOUSE wasn't your favorite film of 2007?" Yes, sad but true. GRINDHOUSE was an ambitious and auspicious undertaking, and I love it with the proper amount of fanboy gusto...but it had problems. Not insurmountable problems, but problems nonetheless. With HOT FUZZ, I simply find no problems. I will never reach the level of fanaticism with it that I have for its predecessor, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but it still is easily my pick for best of this year.
But that's not what this column is about.
This column is about the jam-packed 3-disc Special Edition DVD.
*sigh*
When HOT FUZZ first hit DVD, I needed to get my hands on it...but I hesitated. Being a reader of director Edgar Wright's Myspace blog (oh, shut up) I knew that Wal-Mart had a special exclusive 2-disc set. I also knew that they were offering it in both full-frame and widescreen versions (when the hell are we going to get rid of this pan and scan nonsense? I mean, seriously now). My girlfriend, having been totally blown away by HOT FUZZ herself (innit she lovely?) was quite chagrined on the phone that night. "It's been out for a day, and you don't have it yet?!" After checking online, and finding that the thing wasn't even available at their warehouse, I swallowed my geek pride and bought the regular, one-disc version. Hell, it was better than nothing. And it did have the Fuzzball Rally, the video documentary of the Holy Trinity's American Press tour for the film, which the UK release was without.
I watched the film immediately, and then turned right around and started it again with the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg commentary. It was thoroughly entertaining, of course, though not as raucous as the SHAUN commentary. But still, I wasn't complaining. Except for the niggling fact of them mentioning the commentary featuring Edward Woodward and Timothy Dalton...which was on the 2-disc set, but not the version I had.
Can you possibly imagine how that pained me? I mean, right down to my blackened and twisted little soul.
But I sucked it up. I watched the Fuzzball Rally, which was highly entertaining (and a little disturbing), and the deleted scenes, and the outtakes, and the requisite The Man Who Would Be Fuzz mickey-take...but I just knew there was more out there that I wasn't getting to see.
Well, you will all be happy to know that for this past Christmas, my brother was way too kind to his twatty younger brother, and bestowed upon me the revered newly released 3-disc special edition, and that is what I am here to have a geekasm all over your expectantly upturned faces over today.
Enjoy!
Disc 1:
This disc seems similar to the regular one-disc version on the surface. The graphics and voice-over samples from the film's dialog are the same, as well as the same really cool cross-hairs cursor, along with the same deleted scenes (22 of them) and outtakes, and the aforementioned Man Who Would Be Fuzz. Also like the initial disc, it has the informative Fuzz-O-Meter trivia track that you can play along with the film as subtitles, and of course the storyboard to film comparison (the only special feature on a disc that I won't watch – bores even me). But what it has that the original doesn't, along with the other side of Officer Danny Butterman's notebook (referred to, but never seen in the actual film...which for the life of me I cannot figure out how to access), it has four additional commentaries. I mean, wow. There is the original Wright/Pegg joint, a cast commentary (featuring Pegg again, Frost, of course, Rafe Spall, Kevin Eldon, and Olivia Coleman. Except about halfway through Coleman steps out and Jim Broadbent steps in, for what is revealed to be his very own first commentary ever), a commentary featuring Wright and Quentin Tarantino (which I am not sure I can ever bring myself to listen to), the mythical commentary featuring Dalton and Woodward (as well as fellow Sanford Villagers Paul Freeman and Kenneth Cranham), and finally, a commentary featuring two actual British police officers, Andy Leafe and Nick Eckland.
As previously stated, the Wright/Pegg commentary is engaging and entertaining, as is the cast commentary. Since Pegg is featured in every scene, and Frost a close second, but the others not quite as much, the commentary frequently goes off the 
I have a total man-crush on Nick Frost: my secret shame is revealed! |
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subject of the film, but is still quite entertaining. The same can be said for the Sanford Villagers commentary: since the actors doing the commentary are only featured in half the movie (some of them less) it starts off sluggishly, and I was worried for a bit that I would have to turn it off, but after a while it picks up, and the seasoned actors basically go off on tangents, telling stories of other films they've done and people they've worked with. It may not relate much to the film, but it is damn interesting. Those guys have been around the block.
I haven't had a chance to watch the other commentaries yet. Hey, give me a break: there's a hell of a lot of stuff on this set.
Rounding out Disc 1 is another holdover from the initial release, a segment called Hot Funk. Basically, the crew, just like with the Funky Pete segment on the SHAUN disc, were contractually obligated to deliver a curse-free version of the film. This segment showcases some of the sarcastic overdubs the boys did to fit the criteria. Stuff such as: "Peas and Rice!" "Pack it in, you sill Barstool!" And my personal favorite, "Yeah, Mother Hubbard!"
Disc 2:
This disc is probably my favorite of the three. Right off the bat, under the Hearsay link, it revives the Plot Holes gag from the SHAUN disc, with three comic strip segments pointing out how certain slightly unbelievable things were pulled off in the film, with voiceovers by the actors involved in the scenes in question. There is Crush the Messenger, about how Tim Messenger was lured to his untimely end (he ends the piece by saying not to worry about him, that Heaven is really nice...except for the fire. And the Brimstone. And the Devil. "He's a twat.") It also has Danny Butterman explaining the knife-in-the-notebook escape, and Nicholas Angel explaining how they all escaped the station explosion without injury. The other portion of the Hearsay link is a special effects comparison section. Most of it is kind of ho-hum, except of course for the wonderful shots of how they splatted the rat.
Then there are the featurettes. The first of which, under the Conclusive link, is called We Made Hot Fuzz, and it basically plays like a better than average EPK featurette. It is just shy of half an hour long, and has a lot of cool interviews and behind the scenes footage. Under the Forensic link are seven mini-featurettes, each around five to ten minutes long. They range from stuff about the art department to what kind of camera gear was used on the shoot to what friends and family members were included somehow in the proceedings. My personal favorites are Simon Mugs, which is about how Pegg had to do what he calls "pulling faces" at the end of every take, because he need to be so serious in his character that he had to get the silliness out of his system by making comically contorted facial expression as soon as Edgar yelled cut, and Sergeant Fisher's Perfect Sunday, which is the complete dialog that is only partly heard during the film. It is hilarious to watch Kevin Eldon's Fisher go on and on, getting ever more bizarre, to Adam Buxton's Tim Messenger, while Edgar Wright tries, and ultimately fails, to keep from busting up just off camera.
Under the Speculative link are all 13 of the video blogs the boys posted up at their HOT FUZZ website during the course of pre-production and the actual shoot, as well as some after the fact stuff. This is a particular treat for me, as I was denied access to these blogs at the time (dial-up at home, firewall at work). They're each relatively short, and are quite interesting to watch all at one time, as it gives you a real sense of the anticipation, joys, and frustrations of the boys bringing their next big dream to life. My personal favorite is the highly disturbing clip titled Work Out, which features Pegg and Frost in one of their trailers, dressed in matching black tank tops and electric blue bicycle shorts, basically spending three minutes being creepily homoerotic, including the requisite BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN joke, and Pegg shaking his bottom while feeding carrot after phallic carrot into an electric juicer. Yum!
Under the Photographic link, there are various movie posters and still photos from the shoot, both film stills and candid, behind the scenes stuff. All of it interesting and worth a look. As an added bonus, you can click a little magnifying glass and get a closeup look at the detail work on the movie posters.
Finally, we come to my absolute favorite feature on this feature-heavy edition: the Falsified link. In this section there is included a film called DEAD RIGHT. In edition to being the name that HOT FUZZ was shipped to theaters under to discourage theft of reels, it also happens to be a low-budget film that Edgar Wright made in 1993, when he was eighteen-years old. Now, maybe I am biased, being someone who truly enjoys indie, low-budget, by the skin 
Wright? Dead Right! |
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of their teeth movies, but I thought it was out and out brilliant. Given the small-town upbringing of Wright, and his young age (as well as the similarly young cast), I think what he came up with is mighty fine. All of the indicators of his future talent are all firmly in place, with his inspired use of sound effects and musical cues, and his lightning fast edits and cuts. The film itself is also thematically similar to HOT FUZZ, except it ends up taking a much more loose cannon, DIRTY HARRY, kill 'em all vibe. But it is really fun watching the characters run around Wells, Wright's hometown, and also where HOT FUZZ was shot. The best way I can describe the film is Tex Avery redoes RESERVOIR DOGS in Peter Jackson's backyard.
And as if all of that wasn't already enough, DEAD RIGHT also comes with not only a small featurette with Edgar Wright explaining how he made the film, but it also has not one, but two commentaries. One featuring Wright himself, and the other featuring a very obviously put-upon Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They don't much like the film, and don't much appreciate being roused up on a Sunday morning to commentate on it. Which makes it all the more hilarious for me. If you watch nothing else on this set, you must watch this. Whatever the boys themselves may say about it, I loved it, and it is a fair bit better than a lot of the low-budget shite I force my eyes to stay open through during my day to day business as a bad movie buff.
Disc 3:
Finally, we come to disc three. This disc contains the Fuzzball Rally feature from the original release, except in this case in its "uncut" state. It is maybe 15-minutes longer, and features a lot more naughty words from Frost. I think the most interesting part is when the boys get totally geeked-out on doing phone interviews, and after about the twentieth one (literally) they are forced to do in this one small boardroom, they are reduced to running around the room half-naked, spanking each other and putting their "man business" up on the table like wares for sale. A must-see for the ladies! Incidentally, the video for his segment was filmed entirely by a friend of the boys, fellow writer and sometimes director Joe Cornish (who was also a zombie in SHAUN as well as protraying Bob in HOT FUZZ).
Lastly but not leastly, this final disc also includes five video blogs put out by VW.com and four iTunes podcasts. The VW blogs are basic, run of the mill interview and press type stuff, with the first blog being the standout. It features Pegg and Frost test-driving some VW vehicles, as well as being driven around by a professional stunt driver, while trying to keep their cool as he goes up on two wheels and does some A-MAZE-ING trick parking. It ends with Pegg quite literally burning all of the rubber off of the front tires of one particular vehicle, and looking damn proud of himself for doing it. The iTunes podcasts show the boys obviously completely tired of doing any sort of press for the movie, and instead just mugging for the camera and making jokes at each other's expenses. Which, in fact, is quite hilarious.
So there you go. I have written over two-thousand words and still only barely scratched the surface on the goodies this set contains. You must pick it up for yourself to really see how almighty it is. I mean, just the commentaries and trivia track alone would take you 12 hours to watch, not including just a straight viewing of the film. And that is only the first disc! If you have any love for the boys at all, you will pick this thing up, post-haste.
Seacrest out!
[Note: there is a cool Easter Egg on the main menu of disc one, and there is a SHAUN OF THE DEAD cricket bat featured somewhere in the film. If you're real nice to be, I'll tell you where they are.]
EDIT: I am such a total hoser. I completely forgot two important things, both relating to the uncut Fuzzball Rally documentary:
1. During the course of the piece you can see all three infamous cake flushing episodes, including the one where the guys are pretty obviously high on more than life.
2. It actually has a documentary itself! This might seem silly, and I guess it kind of is, but it is actually interesting in that along with the Holy Trinity, the commentary includes Joe Cornish, who really doesn't speak much during the 70-something minutes. So you finally get to hear what he has to say. Also, right at the outset Edgar Wright acknowledges the silliness of a commentary on a press documentary by saying that he and the boys are going to camp out at a Virgin Megastore and do a live commentary as people are buying the DVD. Whenever someone picks one up they're going to follow them around and just, you know, like, talk about them as they sort of like make their purchase :)
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| Agent Provocateur |
Every other Sunday
Eating the flesh of lesser film geeks since '72.
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| Zombie Boy |
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