Review of Johnny English

Introduction

Ahh, Rowan Atkinson. When discussing him, it`s easy to pigeonhole his TV work and film appearances into 2 categories, so that`s what I`ll do:-

1) The reasonably intelligent stuff - Not the Nine O`Clock News, Blackadder, The Tall Guy, Bernard and the Genie, Funny Business, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Maybe Baby and his live shows.

2) The more dumbed down stuff - All of Mr. Bean, Rat Race

The trouble is, sometimes you never know which one`s going to turn up. I prefer the Atkinson of (1) and I really detest the Atkinson of (2). One of my ideas of hell is being forced to watch Mr. Bean.

So when the proposal for Johnny English came about (an extended version of the rather amusing old Barclaycard ads starring Atkinson as a spy called Richard Latham with a sidekick named Bough or Boff depending on who you read) it looked an interesting idea. The rumours seemed to start in around 1998 and it all finally came to fruition in the last 12 months.

The only person who seems to have lost out on the deal was Henry Naylor, comedian and writer, who played the original Bough in the adverts. He`s been replaced by Ben Miller, who is an acceptable understudy. You can read the brief and simple plot of the film up above, and it won`t tax your brain.

Video

A damn good 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer as you would expect for a film that was only released in the cinema in April 2003. Good levels of detail, excellent colours and no blemishes on the picture whatsoever.

Being a spy spoof you might expect some combination of exotic locations and stunning sets. Not quite. It`s mostly London (Canary Wharf), St. Albans and a bit of France thrown in. Some of the sets wouldn`t look out of place in a Bond film though.

For you trivia fans, the "pen" sketch in the film was lifted from the original Barclaycard adverts.

Audio

A choice of DD5.1 and dts, with dts just shading it as it so often does. Being a bit of an action film you`d expect a bit of an action soundtrack, and you`ll get one, with booms, bangs, crashes and bullets flying everywhere, along with some more subtle sounds.

A spy spoof needs a spoof title song, and that`s provided by Robbie Williams, with his own song "A Man For All Seasons", which is quite amusing and also in keeping with the film.

And another one for you trivia fans - there`s a band playing in the background at Sauvage`s party, a famous string quartet from the UK and Australia. And their name? Bond.

Features

A small selection of extras are presented.

The Making of Johnny English is a 25 minute documentary which just screams "made for TV to promote the film". That said, it`s actually quite interesting and enjoyable as it goes behind the scenes and has interviews with all the main cast and crew.

Character Stats are supposed biographies of some of the characters, which are distinctly average.

You can also access a few interesting deleted scenes if you pass the Observation Test. Their quality is rather poor, but their content is an interesting insight into what was cut.

There is also some DVD ROM content, with games and things to download.

Conclusion

So which Atkinson turned up on the set of Johnny English then? Well, I think it was a combination of both of them. There are some great "intelligent" Atkinson moments, as well as some more "dumbed down" moments, but on the whole the balance is good. This makes for an amusing spy spoof which is a bit of a laugh and a bit of fun. It`s quite easy to draw lazy comparisons with the Pink Panther series, and that`s not far off the mark.

An eclectic mix of people - comedians (Atkinson and Miller), a soap star turned singer (Natalie Imbruglia) and John Malkovich (who is gloriously over the top as the evil French villain) - combine to give a reasonable film. It`s easily the best film that former Bread star Peter Howitt has directed (but that`s not saying much given that the short list includes the dreary Sliding Doors and the rather naff AntiTrust).

The most telling contribution is from Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the writers. If those names seem familiar, it`s because you`ve spotted them writing the last two James Bond films The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. But where the stories of those films have been weak in comparison to what has gone before, their style suits this more spoof genre much better and they get away with things that you can`t in Bond (even though they tried).

It`s not the funniest film ever, and it`s not the best spy film ever, but it`s an amusing rental for a Saturday night. The DVD itself is a nice rounded package, if a little lacking in extras.