History Film / HotFuzz

* TheGreatBritishCopperCapture: The source of much of Danny Butterman's annoyance is that he's never handled a gun in a real situation - he gets to in the final act of the film, and this trope happens at least four times when he goes up against other officers - the last time [[spoiler:with his father]].

* BogglesTheMind: "Fascist." "Hag." Not throwing insults at each other, just solving a crossword. [[spoiler:Until the final shootout, where they ''are'' throwing insults at each other.]]

** Crossed with ValuesDissonance. The pub owners allowed teens to drink alcohol despite clearly being underage, [[note]]It was so they wouldn't get in trouble with the law outside, ironically.[[/note]] but Weaver and the rest of the NWA are very concerned with minor or even nonexistant offences, like loiterers, typos, and the extremely irritating ''living statue!''

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: [[spoiler:Annette has a clear shot at Nicholas from short-range at an elevated position using a scoped rifle. Despite this, she doesn't use the scope and misses him several times. Justified, as she (and all the other NWA members) are used to killing with blades, so they likely have no experience with firearms. They simply just happen to own a shitload of guns. Of the dozens of shots fired, only three actually hit Nicholas, and none do much damage.]]

** This is ultimately what defeats [[spoiler:the NWA]]. Yes the police in the town are pretty useless and oblivious to Nick's growing suspicions that there may be a killer in their midst. [[spoiler:They also suit up in riot gear when a shootout occurs, and the local civilians are firing at Nick, trying to get both of them to put down their guns. None of the cops are so stupid as to ignore that a bunch of civilians drew the first shot at Nick and when Danny reveals his dad is part of the NWA, the new guard turns on Butterman]].

* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: All of these brutal deaths that were "accidents." Subverted, as Sandford does not have a coroner. [[spoiler:It only has a doctor, who in fact is involved in all the murders at best. And Dr. Hatcher bears a striking and ever so slightly worrying resemblance to Dr. Harold Shipman, who was found guilty of the murder of 15 of his patients. It's been said that the similarity between the two is entirely coincidental... but then they would say that, wouldn't they?]]

** And of course, Danny, being the Deuteragonist, has this in spades. He's at first shown to be mostly inept (Even possibly by the Sandford Police's standards), being a ManChild obsessed with action movies with a hero worship of Nicholas despite a seeming inability to keep his mind on the job. But even before the third act he [[spoiler:saves Nicholas' life, shows he's indeed been paying attention to all Nicholas was teaching him]] and spends the rest of the movie showing his mettle.

** The Village of the Year competition is mentioned twice early on (first by the Met Inspector, then again by Tom Weaver). [[spoiler:It comes back with a vengeance as it turns out the murders are to try and get rid of anyone who might spoil the village's chance of winning.]]

* EpicFail: After seeing Angel jump three fences and somersault a fourth during the chase scene, Danny runs straight towards the first fence to try and jump it, only to crash straight through it.

* OffWithHisHead: Averted. Nicholas threatens to do this to [[spoiler:Danny]] to try and make [[spoiler:Frank and the NWA]] back off. [[spoiler:Frank calls his bluff.]]

** There's an entire RedHerring subplot about a land development project in Sanford which Nicholas originally believes is the reason behind the murder. Originally that entire plot was much more prominent and detailed, but in editing it was cut down for being needlessly complex for a plot point that purposefully goes nowhere so in the final version it's mostly just rattled off by Leslie Tiller [[spoiler:before her death]]. But several elements from the original plotline remain in the movie.

-->'''Angel:''' Haven't you ever wondered why the murder rate in Sanford is so low but the accident rate, it's so high?
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[spoiler:The victim's deaths are done this way--they are killed after they do something to piss off the town. What pushed the NWA to murder their victims was always a very petty detail (e.g., having a house with an unfitting aesthetic) rather than the "conspiracy" Nick thought they were a part of.]]

* IChooseToStay: In the aftermath of the battle between Angel and Sanford's NWA, [[spoiler:Angel's former superiors invited him to return to London. Angel politely declined, having grown attached to Sanford and his new colleagues. Flash-forward one year later, Angel became the head of the Sanford Police force, AndTheAdventureContinues]].

* ProfanityPolice: Literally, the Sanford Police Department has a swear jar and is very strict about the policy.

** There's an entire RedHerring subplot about a land development project in Sanford which Nicholas originally believes is the reason behind the murder. Originally that entire plot was much more prominent and detailed, but in editing it was cut down for being needlessly complex for a plot point that purposefully goes nowhere so in the final version it's mostly just rattled by Leslie Tiller [[spoiler:before her death]]. But several elements from the original plotline remain in the movie.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Tim Messenger misspells Angel's name as Angle in the issue of the Sandford Citizen when Angel appears at the school. This leads to the MaliciousMisnaming example from the other officers a few scenes later. Skinner even later tells Tim to spell Angel's name correctly the next time he wants to mention him in the paper.
* TheAce: Angel is the best cop in the Met, has an arrest rate 5 times higher than that of any other cop, is good with a lot of guns, and is a quick runner. Nicholas is also a {{deconstruction}} of this trope, being an insufferable workaholic who annoys everyone with InsistentTerminology and who makes the rest of the London [[InsistentTerminology Service]] look bad. It's reconstructed later on when he is the only man who can clean up the town he's reassigned to.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: [[spoiler:Leslie Tiller is a member of the NWA, and while they do kill her it's unrevealed if she had been privy to their crimes beforehand. The fact that she wanted to move out of town could mean that she didn't love it as much as they did -in which case they might never have recruited her to their cause- or could mean she had undergone a HeelRealization and was a DefectorFromDecadence]].

** A police officer's notebook is an official document and must be written on both sides of the page and in black ink only, not on one side only in blue ink, as Nick does. It should go without saying that comedic cartoons are definitely forbidden.

* BadassPreacher: [[spoiler:Reverend Shooter has two derringers packed in his cassock sleeves, and is the ''second'' person to actually harm Angel, who at this point has only been hit once in the shoulder by the villains.]]

* BerserkButton: The Andys are fiercely loyal to each other and bringing harm to one is sure to incur the others wrath. This is evidenced during the seige on the grocery store when Wainwright peers around a corner at the two butchers only for one to fling a projectile which misses him but smashes several jars of tomato paste which spill sauce and glass all over his face, causing him to turn to Cartwright while screaming, seemingly in agony. Cartwright, thinking Wainwright has been seriously injured, charges into the open and unleashes a hail of gunfire onto the two butchers who immediately duck for cover, still firing even when Wainwright says the "blood" is actually bolognese.

** In the pub, Andy frightens Nick by using a hidden pack of ketchup to look like he stabbed himself in the eye. This becomes useful later when [[spoiler:Nick is surrounded by the members of the NWA]].

* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: All of these brutal deaths that were "accidents." Subverted, as Sandford does not have a coroner. [[spoiler:It only has a doctor; who in fact is involved in all the murders at best. And Dr. Hatcher bears a striking and ever so slightly worrying resemblance to Dr. Harold Shipman, who was found guilty of the murder of 15 of his patients. It's been said that the similarity between the two is entirely coincidental... but then they would say that, wouldn't they?]]

* OffscreenTeleportation: The black cloaked figure pulls this twice on Angel when fleeing from him [[spoiler:after murdering Leslie Tiller]], as in the blink of an eye, the figure is suddenly quite a distance ahead of him twice, first when they emerge into the open, and then after the figure makes it through a fence. [[spoiler:Subverted, however, when it's later revealed there were multiple cloaked figures in the sequence, at the same time as Angel discovers the killers at the castle.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: While the [[spoiler: NWA are the main villains of the movie two of their number rise to the role of "main antagonnists", that being Frank Butterman and Simon Skinner. The former is the leader of the NWA and has the strongest personal connection to Nicholas and Danny, the latter is the most personally antagonistic towards Angel and serves as the film's FinalBoss]].

* ForWantOfANail: Of all the towns Nick was assigned to, it had to be Sandford, Gloucestershire where [[spoiler:coincidentally some murders are going on. And of course the NWA had murdered Sgt. Popwell when he came too close to uncovering the conspiracy]].

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: [[spoiler:One of the villains has a clear shot at Nicholas from short-range at an elevated position using a scoped rifle. Despite this, she doesn't use the scope and misses him several times. Justified, as she (and all the other NWA members) are used to killing with blades, so they likely have no experience with firearms. They simply just happen to own a shitload of guns. Of the dozens of shots fired, only three actually hit Nicholas, and none do much damage.]]

** An early one is Tony Fisher's introduction. The bubble chart is neatly framed behind his head with various negative terms pointing to him such as "Unfit," "Disloyal," "Indecisive" and "Lacks Leadership Skills."

-->'''Mr. Reaper:''' What you're going to do? Just walk in, and arrest the whole village?\\

-->'''Cartwright:''' Everyone and their mums is packin' 'round 'ere.\\

-->'''Mrs. Roper:''' No luck catching those swans, then?\\

-->'''Mrs. Roper:''' No luck catching those killers, then?\\

-->'''Mrs. Cooper:'''[[spoiler:firing at Angel with a machine gun]] Fascist!\\

-->"...Cousin Sissy can go and fu--"

-->'''Sgt. Nicholas Angel:''' Because "accident" implies that there's no-one to blame![[note]]As discussed (eg) [[https://www.patrickdaniellaw.com/blog/crash-vs-accident-difference/ here]], this is actually a TruthInTelevision point of contention, ''especially'' with [[DrunkDriver drunk]] and [[DrivesLikeCrazy reckless]] drivers[[/note]]

-->'''Sgt. Fisher:''' I'll deal with the press, Sergeant. Now, my perfect Sunday is a lovely long lie in...

-->'''Nick:''' These people died for no reason! No reason whatsoever!\\

** The Andys to Angel a few times, calling him and Danny "Sergeant Knicker-less Asswipe and Constable Fanny Batterbomb" after the death of [[spoiler:George Merchant]], and one of them calls him "Nichol-arse" at the church fête.

* BerserkButton: The Andys are fiercely loyal to each other and bringing harm to one is sure to incur the others wrath. This is evidenced during the seige on the grocery store when Wainwright peers around a corner at the two butchers only for one to fling a projectile which misses him but smashes several jars of tomato paste which spill sauce and glass all over his face, causing him to turn to Wainwright while screaming, seemingly in agony. Cartwright, thinking Wainwright has been seriously injured, charges into the open and unleashes a hail of gunfire onto the two butchers who immediately duck for cover, still firing even when Wainwright says the "blood" is actually bolognese.

* BerserkButton: The Andys are fiercely loyal to each other and bringing harm to one is sure to incur the others wrath. This is evidenced during the seige on the grocery store when Cartwright peers around a corner at the two butchers only for one to fling a projectile which misses him but smashes several jars of tomato paste which spill sauce and glass all over his face, causing him to turn to Wainwright while screaming, seemingly in agony. Wainwright, thinking Cartwright has been seriously injured, charges into the open and unleashes a hail of gunfire onto the two butchers who immediately duck for cover, still firing even when Cartwright says the "blood" is actually bolognese.

* SurpriseCreepy: This seemingly innocuous buddy cop comedy suddenly gets a couple of pretty graphic slasher-horror scenes, but they don't last very long and are immediately followed by laughs. [[spoiler:But then ''holy shit the reveal''. Turns out there was not a single murderer, but ''several'', all members of the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance, A.K.A. [[TheDogWasTheMastermind most of the nice, neighborly villagers.]] These people are ''obsessed'' with winning the "Village of the Year" award, and will resort to kill anyone, including ''children'', to secure the award. And then, of course, we get a couple jokes and then we drop the horror entirely to focus on [[RuleOfCool action.]]]]

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played straight with [[spoiler:the hoodies and Aaron A. Aaronson]] in the climax, but horrifyingly averted with [[spoiler:the kids Nicholas kicked out of the pub his first night in Sandford, who turn up in the crypt]].

** When Martin Blower states that he and Eve Draper are starring in a homage to "William Shakespeare's ''Romeo And Juliet''", he doesn't mean it as in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' the play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare; he literally means ''William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet'', as in the film ''[[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet]]'' by Creator/BazLuhrmann.

* InstantlyProvenWrong: When the cops arrive to storm the supermarket. Nicholas heads in to make sure they are here, over Doris' protest of him going in alone. Danny turns to her and tells her not to worry, "He knows what he's doing." [[Spoiler:Cue Nicholas being tossed out the window by Lurch.]]

* InstantlyProvenWrong: When the cops arrive to storm the supermarket. Nicholas heads in to make sure they are here, over Doris' protest of him going in alone. Danny turns to her and tells her not to worry, "He knows what he's doing." Queue Nicholas being tossed out the window by Lurch.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Sure, a wooden table will protect you against a hail of bullets. Subverted in that a hole is blasted straight through it in between the heroes. Bullets also bounce ineffectively off the [[spoiler: plastic cover that protects the deli meats in the supermarket butchers]].

* LuckyTranslation: The phrase "piss taker" (roughly meaning practical joker) wouldn't be understood in the states. Instead it would be taken to mean "one who urinates," which swaps crudeness for the meta-humour but otherwise keeps the joke intact.

* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Sure, a wooden table will protect you against a hail of bullets. Subverted in that a hole is blasted straight through it in between the heroes. Bullets also bounce ineffectively off the [[plastic cover that protects the deli meats in the supermarket butchers]].