10 Best Examples Of Movies With A ‘Chekhov’s Gun’
3. Hot Fuzz – Sea Mine And Swan
The second in the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ has a couple of great set ups that pay off in the climax of the film. Nicholas and Danny are sent on several apparently pointless investigations, which are seemingly used to emphasise how different the types of crimes in the countryside are to the ones Nicholas is used to working in the big city.
They visit a man who has been accused of chopping down somebody else’s hedge, which is played for laughs as Nicholas needs two translators to decipher his country dialect. He eventually realises that the farmer actually has a massive stash of illegal weapons. The highlight of these is a large, unexploded sea mine, which we are fooled into thinking is a dud, before it comes back at the end of the film to save the day when it explodes in the police station evidence locker.
The second ‘gun’ is when the duo is sent on a mission to catch an escaped swan, an endeavour which Nicholas believes is beneath him and a waste of his training. However, the swan is pivotal in catching Frank when he attempts to escape by stealing their squad car as it pops up in the back seat causing him to crash.