Johnny English (2003)

Directed by: Peter Howitt | 88 minutes | action, comedy, adventure | Actors: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Nathalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller, Tim Pigott-Smith, Greg Wise, Tasha de Vasconcelos, Douglas McFerran, Steve Nicholson, Terence Harvey, Nina Young, Rowland Davies, Tim Berrington, Kevin McNally, Philippa Fordham

At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Johnny English, a third-rate secret agent, who currently only has an office job. He dreams of the real espionage work. During the funeral of MI7’s top secret agent, who was killed in an accident, all of MI7’s secret agents are murdered. The secret service is forced to deploy Johnny English to protect the British Crown Jewels. Of course everything goes wrong and he has to do everything he can to save his skin.

The character Johnny English originated in TV commercials for Barclay Card. Rowan Atkinson then played the same role as now in the role of Johnny English. In this film we see Rowan Atkinson again in a leading role after a long time, which he plays with fervor. He is assisted by his assistant Bough, a role played by the relatively unknown Ben Miller. Together they form a comic duo that complement each other very well. We also see Nathalie Imbruglia, who became known in the TV series ‘Neighbours’, in the role of secret agent Lorna. As it should be, there is also a villain. John Malkovich plays Pascal Sauvage, a proud French businessman who steals the British Crown Jewels and wants to become King of England.

The story is secondary to the jokes in most comedies, but in this case more attention has been paid to the story. It goes without saying that the script writers contributed to this with their experience in scripting ‘The World is not Enough’ and ‘Die Another Day’. The film falls under the “new” category of spy comedy, which also includes “Austin Powers” films. The film will certainly appeal to fans of this genre.

However, the film also has flaws. The characters, with the exception of Johnny English, are rather superficial. The jokes are sometimes exceptionally fun, but often predictable. Nevertheless, the film scores well.