Edgar Wright (Director Profile)

This is the sixth entry in the Director Profile series.

ABOUT EDGAR WRIGHT

Edgar Wright, 36, has only directed three films but has already made an impact on the filmmaking scene with his energetic visual style and clear love for the medium. After working on the cult television show Spaced for Channel 4 in Britain, he went on to make two feature films with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, two of the stars of Spaced. These films are Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, two very British comedies that work brilliantly and hilariously on their own while lovingly spoofing zombie splatter films and Michael Bay-esque cop films, respectively. This past summer he released Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starring Michael Cera. While its box office was modest, it's clear it is a film that, like his other work, will go on to develop a following for a long time to come. Also, he's just 36, so I'd say he's got a whole lot of career left.

THE FILMS


Shaun of the Dead (2004)

With the new millennium has come a wave of new zombie films in the vein of George Romero, which really merely exist as a form of blood-filled water balloon. The audience merely sits around waiting for them to pop. Maybe with a gun, maybe with some more creative objects, just so long as we get some good splatter. Shaun of the Dead hits many familiar beats of those films, but with a brilliant comic edge. The film opens as if we're going to be watching a slacker comedy with some romantic elements, but then people start getting a little hungry for human brains, and havoc ensues.

Wright in all his films is able to spoof various film genres not because they're terrible, but because he has an appreciation for the medium. Only people who have watched zombie movies several times over could have pulled off such a pitch-perfect parody, all the while making the film truly his own. The cast ain't too shabby either, with Pegg and Frost's chemistry never growing old, even in their later collaborations.

However, Shaun of the Dead doesn't hold interest for the entire length, despite a brilliant first half. By the end the film gets a little too caught up in its blood-soaked zombie wasteland for its own good, but as an entire film this as assured a directorial debut as we saw in the last decade.
(Rating: 3/4)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

The spoof/homage formula introduced in Shaun of the Dead is just about perfected in the pretty darn brilliant Hot Fuzz, as fun a time as I've had watching a comedy in recent memory. As the film goes on you become increasingly impressed by its absolute audacity. It's more than two hours long and some of the twists it takes in the final act are absolutely insane and wonderful. Nothing it does should work, but it ends up succeeding spectacularly at everything it does. Not a scene goes by without a laugh, be it a laugh of appreciation, disgust, shock, you name it. I barely want to reveal the plot, because I went in knowing absolutely nothing and as a result the roller coaster ride was all the more fulfilling. I will say it involves Simon Pegg, a relentlessly efficient city cop, being sent out to the small village of Sandford.

The havoc that ensues in unbelievably absurd, yet somehow perfect. I always complain about comedies not taking risks, but if you want to see an example of one that doesn't stop taking them, look no further. Throw in an incredible supporting turn from Timothy Dalton, the most underrated James Bond, and you've got something fearless and always hilarious. It's not a movie that begs for you to love it, but it dares you to love it. If I were to make a top-ten list of 2007 films I would likely include it. Mind you, that was a year that gave us No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Juno, and several other good-to-great films.
(Rating: 4/4)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

(Read my original review of this film here.)
When I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I came away with mixed-to-positive feelings. I appreciated what Wright was trying to do, I felt he mostly succeeded, but darn it all if I wasn't able to completely submit myself to it. It wasn't even a day later I felt the nagging need to see it again, something that doesn't happen often with films I had a lukewarm reaction to. There were many people who wanted to declare their undying love for it, others who didn't like it very much at all, and I found myself uncomfortably in the middle. However, the more I look back on it the more I absolutely, positively need to see it again. I very much await its November 9 release on DVD so I can get that opportunity. For now, however, I keep my 3-star rating, and I stand by my original review. It's got a lot of energy and great moments, but as a whole it didn't quite equal the sum of it's parts.
(Rating: 3/4)

CAREER GRADE: B+


Obviously, this profile was a bit of a quickie considering there are only three films, but all of them are complete originals despite a few faults in Shaun and Pilgrim. There are many people who disagree with me and say all three are masterpieces, and others who may call Hot Fuzz the weak link. Either way, I can not help but admire Edgar Wright, who has given everything he's done thus far is so energetic and vibrant that they make other films seem lethargic. As far as cult success, he is absolutely 3 for 3, and it won't be long until he is seen as a deity in some circles.

I leave you with Don't, a Wright-directed fake trailer which was part of Grindhouse, the Tarantino-Rodriguez project from 2007.


Other Director Profiles
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
M. Night Shyamalan
Quentin Tarantino
Oliver Stone (partial)