Cop Secret & Police Academy: The Animated Series
This week’s themed content sees us discussing those people whose job it is to enforce the law as we start things off with a rigorous interrogation of the Top 5 Police Officers. Will a thorough application of the rules prevent us from hearing about one dad's favourite Traffic Warden?
Sidey chose Hannes Halldórsson's 2021 gay buddy action spoof COP SECRET for us to review this week and we are awfully glad he did. Whilst investigating a mysterious criminal organisation which has been breaking into Iceland's biggest institutions but apparently not stealing anything, Reykjavik's toughest police officer, the hard drinking and reckless Detective Bussi, finds his professional and personal life become intertwined when he is partnered with pansexual Super Cop, Hörður Bess. With explosives having been found at the big football match between the Iceland women's national football team and the mighty Lionesses and bizarre animal fact quoting terrorist Ricky Ferrari having abducted Bess's brother Maggi, the cops have their work cut out for them before they even have a chance to think about love.
A deeply silly film which sends up and pays homage to the likes of DIE HARD and the FAST & FURIOUS movies by taking classic Hollywood action tropes and transporting them to the mean streets of Reykjavik, the director shows just how much can be achieved on a miniscule budget (reportedly less than Halldórsson had available for a commercial video shoot) as we also get strong vehicle chases and a number of action scenes featuring a dynamic camera and well-integrated digital and practical effects. A consistently funny script which almost has the frantic pace of a NAKED GUN movie, there are some excellent supporting characters in Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir's grizzled Captain Þorgerður as well as unfortunate crew member Svavar (Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson) who just wants a little more organisation but it is absolutely Bjorn Hlynur Haralsson who steals the show with a mega-acting performance reminiscent of Nic Cage as super villain Ricky, who speaks English with an accent somewhere between Donald Trump and Steven Seagal. My one complaint about the movie is that a story about one man’s complicated feelings about his own sexuality in this kind of setting probably had the opportunity to be a bit more progressive than this actually was; it didn’t seem to have anything interesting to say thematically about its premise because it’s never treated very seriously like everything else but this is the only action movie I know of in which the two male leads kiss in the climactic showdown before settling down together to live happily ever after. Also worth mentioning that director Halldórsson was until recently a professional footballer and becomes the second director after legendary glove smith Peter Jackson to save a Messi penalty. Probably.
What else would you close Police week out with but a review of POLICE ACADEMY: THE ANIMATED SERIES?. Season 1, Episode 2's "Puttin' on the Dogs" sees the inept officers attempting to deal with cat burglar The Claw while supporting the new canine cadet corps and trying to avoid a**hole Captain Harris who wants them all to fail for some reason. Look, I enjoyed the Police Academy movies okay; I've seen them all and at exactly the right moments in my life to be able to enjoy the jokes in them without having to think too hard about those other staples of 80's comedies, which these movies are no doubt packed with: racism, sexism and m
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Until next time, we remain...
Bad Dads
