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SYNOPSIS:
When top London cop, PC Nicholas Angel is reassigned to the
quiet town of Sandford, he struggles with his seemingly crime-free
world... and oafish partner Danny.
When several grisly accidents rock the village, it's not long
before Danny's dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing,
gun-fighting, all-out action becomes reality!
It's time for these small-town cops to hand out big-city justice!
MOVIE
REVIEW
This
reviewer was literally kept at the edge of his seat throughout
the movie’s 120-minute runtime. There is so much action,
so much laughs, so much adrenalin rush and so much spot-on
comedy sequences that there isn’t one dull moment to
spare. And it helps that this Edgar Wright-directed movie
is a UK production too.
Simon
Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead) plays a cop who
gets dispensed into a small quiet town where all things seem
peaceful. Partnering a rough-edged cop played by Nick Frost
(Shaun of the Dead, Kinki Boots) doesn’t help to make
his life any more exciting. So when gruesome incidents begin
occurring all over the town, the two cops not only have to
solve the crimes, they have to solve the differences between
themselves.
Sounds
like a feel-good buddy cop movie? You’d be in for a
rude shock if you thought so.
There
are at least three sequences that made us go: “Ouch!”,
and suitably earning its M18 rating for violence. Let’s
just say you won’t be running carelessly near sharp
objects for a while. Then there are the profanities. It’s
probably not a movie you want to play at your child’s
one-year-old birthday party.
Wright
teams up with Pegg to write (read this sentence aloud –
it sounds fun!) a screenplay that is smart and moves at a
quick tempo. Coupled with very innovative shots by cinematographer
Jess Hall and brilliant editing by Chris Dickens, there is
always something refreshing for your eyes throughout the movie.
The kickass soundtrack which includes music performed by Supergrass,
The Kinks and T. Rex is a big plus point too.
Also,
look out for some fine acting by reliable UK actors like Bill
Nighy, Jim Broadbent and Paddy Considine. Of course, the show
belongs to Pegg and Frost, who amiably portrays the friendship
between the two very different personalities. There are some
interestingly tender moments when the duo watches Frost’s
collection of DVDs (the “homage” to movies like
Point Break and Bad Boys II are a hoot), that is, before the
enjoyably entertaining movie picks up gear again for some
high-octane all-out action.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains a decent amount of bonus
features which will make fans of the movie really happy. The
menu pages are pretty cool too.
Feature Commentary Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
– The duo has wonderful chemistry on this audio track
– it’s like listening to a radio talk show. They
explains lots of details from how the sound design over the
Universal logo at the beginning is a combination of police
sirens over the ages, to how the gross-out murder scenes are
a combination of physical and digital effects. And thanks
to the fast-talking duo, I now know that Peter “Lord
of the Rings” Jackson has a cameo that lasted for less
than three seconds.
Inadmissible:
Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker Commentary –
There are 11 deleted scenes with a total runtime of 20 minutes
here. You can listen to Wright talk about why they did not
make the cut, mainly because they didn’t go down too
well with test audiences.
Outtakes
– There are 10 minutes worth of NG takes which see the
jolly cast giggling at each other’s wrongly-recited
lines and balance-losing moments. Somewhere, we saw a middle
finger too.
The
Man Who Would Be Fuzz – We don’t exactly
know the purpose of including this 35-second clip in the disc,
except that it made us laugh with Pegg and Frost’s high-pitched
voices and cheeky faces.
Hot
Funk – This 3-odd minute sequence has milder
language (think “funk” replacing the word that
rhymes with “duck”) dubbed over profanities in
certain scenes. You have to watch it to understand how hard
we laughed at this.
Trailers
– There is the US Theatrical Trailer (the typical type
you see in cinemas), two UK TV Spots (one feels like a Hong
Kong drama trailer, the other feels like a toy advertisement)
and the Director’s Cut Trailer to choose from so that
you can amuse yourself four times over with the clips from
the movie.
Flick
Book: The Other Side – This one beats the rest
for being the most juvenile, and the most fun. Check out this
22-second clip to see how a certain someone has created a
gruesome sequence with a flipbook.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer makes us want to be part
of all the action, while there are English, Japanese and Thai
5.1 Dolby Digital audio tracks to choose from.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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