Hot Fuzz

Nicholas Angel, an extremely dedicated and over-achieving police officer in London’s Metropolitan Police Service, performs his duties so well that he makes everyone else look bad. As a result his superiors send him to a place where his talents won’t be quite so embarrassing: the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford, where there hasn’t been a recorded murder for twenty years.

Once there, he is partnered with well-meaning but overeager and naive police constable Danny Butterman, the son of local police Inspector Frank Butterman and the late Mrs. Irene Butterman. A committed 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, meanwhile, struggles to adjust to the quiet and uneventful pace of the village, and despite clearing up several otherwise unnoticed crimes and misdemeanors in short order, soon finds his most pressing concern being a swan that has escaped from its owner. Angel and Danny eventually bond over action films and drinks at the local pub.

Soon after Angel’s arrival, a series of grisly murders disguised as accidents rock the village, all committed by an individual 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 the other officers on the force. However, Angel refuses to drop the investigation and initially suspects Simon “Sissy” Skinner, the charming but sinister manager of the local Somerfield supermarket, of murdering the victims due to their involvement in a lucrative property deal. His confrontation with Skinner only reveals Skinner’s apparent innocence and further damages Angel’s credibility with his colleagues.

After being ambushed in his hotel room by the cloaked murderer, who is unmasked as the trolley boy of the Somerfield supermarket acting under the instruction of Skinner, 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 may damage the village’s image. They’ve been doing it because of Danny’s mother, Mrs. Butterman, who was driven over the edge when, one year, Sanford lost their title, and she died. Angel discovers the bodies of various “problem” people whom the NWA have disposed of in the castle sewers, before being cornered and stabbed by Danny, apparently a member of the NWA.

Angel is not harmed, however; having tricked the NWA into believing that Angel is dead, Danny instead drives him to the village limits and releases him, insisting that he knew nothing about their true activities. Danny urges Angel to flee, reasoning that no one would believe the truth about Sandford. However, whilst at a rest stop Angel sees the films that he and Danny bonded over on a nearby sales rack and is inspired to stop the NWA once and for all. He drives back to town and arms himself with confiscated weapons seized earlier in the film. 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.

Initially confronted by their colleagues in the Sandford Police Service (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 model village, where both are subdued (one of whom having their jaw impaled on one of the buildings’ spires).

Although Angel’s old supervisors arrive from London begging Angel to return, as their crime statistics have risen drastically, Angel elects to remain in Sandford. Back at the police station, the Sandford Police celebrate their triumph, but they are ambushed by Tom Weaver, leader of the NWA. He attempts to shoot Angel but Danny jumps in front of the blast. In the resulting chaos a confiscated naval 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 that the grave is his mother’s. Angel has been promoted to Inspector and Danny to Sergeant, and the film ends as they go back on the beat together in Sandford.