Like “Shaun of the Dead,” I was impressed with how well the filmmakers drew me into the story in order to make me care deeply about the outcome of the characters and genuinely worry about the danger they were sometimes in. The affection for the action movie genre is apparent in the script and is likely a big contributor to how those scenes play out. A straight-up spoof of the buddy cop genre (like a Zucker brothers’ comedy) wouldn’t have injected so much pathos into the proceedings.

For example, I really dug and believed the background stories of our heroes during the scene where they explain why they each became police officers. Similarly, I genuinely had the wind knocked out of me during the final moments of “Hot Fuzz.” These guys are experts at using comedy to heighten tragedy and vice-versa.