Johnny English (2003)

Johnny English (2003)

7/10

Starring

Rowan Atkinson

Natalie Imbruglia

Ben Miller

John Malkovich

Directed by Peter Howitt

The first Johnny English movie opened the door to the two sequels that follow and the movie is funny and does one of the best spoofs of James Bond you can catch on screen. The inept character Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is socially awkward and so oblivious of everything that it is hard to imagine how things would turn out good for him and his partners.

The movie also has in its casts Natalie Imbruglia the Austalian-British singer. The movie carters to the way spy spoof films are done, English has a partner who is not as bumbling as he is in Angus (Ben Miller). Angus is the anchor to which English moves about, and his capabilities are the only reason English survives.

The comedy both physical and not, were so well crafted to sit into the way Atkinson has been seen portraying characters like Mr. Bean. The character English is based on TV advert character Richard Latham which Atkinson portrayed, which was a somewhat bumbling character.

For a comedic spoof of 007 this movie went a little strong on the plot. Most spoofs also have villains who are just as eccentric as the lead. The plot’s villain here is calm and collected, the plot and plot holes deal with some serious elements they managed to craft into gags.

You will enjoy the way they make English seem incapable of doing anything right and not make him so awkward it irritates. He is just a lucky character who gets to be an agent not be choice of MI7, but situations beyond their control.

Here is how English got to be the top agent on a case beyond his mental capability. After some series of unfortunate events caused by him led to the death of like all top MI7 agents the only sole agent available to complete an ongoing mission was English. He was to stop the possible theft of the crown jewels at the Tower of London, and it was there that he met Interpol agent Lorna (Imbruglia). The jewels were stolen regardless of his presence.

English discovers with the aid of Angus (his partner) how the thieves stole the Jewels and they began an investigation which led to Pascal Sauvage. English and Angus joined by Lorna started to build the case to discover what Sauvage has planned.

They soon discover that the whole England is in trouble as Sauvage’s plan deals with him being the new King of England. English and his crew must stop him before his plans come to pass. The challenge is that Sauvage seems to always be a step ahead, solely because he is smart and English is silly.

The movie was a box office success which then led to the production of two sequels Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Back (2018).