Johnny English
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| Johnny English | |
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 Johnny English film poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Howitt |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Mark Huffam |
| Written by | Neal Purvis Robert Wade William Davies |
| Starring | Rowan Atkinson John Malkovich Ben Miller Natalie Imbruglia |
| Cinematography | Remi Adefarasin |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 11, 2003 |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Language | English French |
| Budget | $40 million[1] |
| IMDb profile | |
Johnny English is a British comic film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre, released in 2003. It starred Rowan Atkinson (who, two decades earlier, appeared in an unofficial James Bond film - Never Say Never Again) as the incompetent British spy of the title, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia and Ben Miller. The screenplay was written by Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with William Davies and the film is directed by Peter Howitt. The film was known by the tagline He knows no fear, he knows no danger, he knows nothing. The movie grossed a total of $160 million worldwide.[1]
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[edit] Principal character's precursor
The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Richard Latham who was played by Atkinson in a series of British television advertisements for Barclaycard. The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the advertisements though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the ads. Some of the gags from the advertisements made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and the ballpoint pen scene (Latham inadvertently 'shot' himself with a tranquilizer dart which fired from the gadget pen when Latham attempted to use it during a demonstration to a class of spy recruits, saying as he collapsed "take over for a Bough, will you moment?").
[edit] Plot
An explosion at the funeral of Agent One, Britain's top agent, wipes out every secret agent in the country—except one. When a plot to steal the Crown Jewels is revealed, Johnny English, an inept worker at British Intelligence (whose bungling was partially responsible for not only the agents' death, but Agent One himself, after giving Agent One incorrect information about his mission) is summoned as a last resort. Together with his assistant Bough (Ben Miller), he manages to discover the person behind the plot, the French prison entrepreneur Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich), whose family once had a claim to the throne.
Sauvage - a descendant of William the Conqueror - believes that the crown should have gone to him instead of the Queen, and has hatched an evil plan to become King of the United Kingdom: steal the Crown Jewels, have an impostor replace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and have him proclaim Sauvage as King. Meanwhile, English is strangely attracted to a mysterious woman, Lorna Campbell (Natalie Imbruglia), whom he meets at a big social event whilst guarding the centrepiece to the whole event—the Crown Jewels. He inevitably fails, and the Jewels, despite a desperate attempt on his part to retrieve them, are stolen.
Meanwhile, English reports his suspicions to the head of MI7 named Pegasus (Tim Pigott-Smith), who naturally doesn't believe him. English and Bough infiltrate Sauvage's headquarters, behind the knowledge of the agency, via parachute. English initially lands on the wrong building, the nearby and identical London Hospital, and after a phenomenal error of judgment resulting in him holding several doctors and patients at gunpoint, English enters the headquarters through a back door. Both agents activate a DVD player, exposing Sauvage's sinister scheme. English, after accidentally injecting himself with muscle relaxant, meets Lorna again, who turns out to be an Interpol agent herself, also on Sauvage's tail. Along with Bough, they gatecrash a party held by Sauvage, and Bough and English are promptly dismissed by their superiors (partly due to one of the henchmen reporting English's antics to Sauvage, still a friend of English's unwitting boss, and partially because the muscle relaxant's effects had not worn off completely, making English seem somewhat inebriated).
Sauvage concludes that English knows too much and has his henchmen enter Sandringham House and force the Queen to sign a letter of abdication renouncing her family's claim to the British throne. The Queen, at first, refused to sign even at gunpoint, but when the threat was turned to one of her Welsh Corgis, she signs, thus, leaving the post free for Sauvage. Sauvage is informed by British officials the day after that, as the closest surviving relative of the Queen, the position of monarch now belongs to him.
English returns to his flat in regret for himself. However, Lorna pays him a visit, saying that the mission which he was dismissed from was reassigned to her, and she persuades English to join her. They both travel to France and infiltrate Sauvage's chateau and overhear Sauvage's proposal of turning the United Kingdom into a giant prison once he is king. However, in a room where they are spying on Sauvage, English accidentally triggers a microphone, which causes Sauvage to hear their tactics and promptly call on guards to seize them. They decide to take the DVD, but due to English dropping it on a tray full of identical unlabeled disks, take the wrong one—a surveillance video of English dancing to ABBA in his bathroom. They are held hostage by Sauvage, however they manage to free themselves and return to England on the day of his coronation.
At Sauvage's coronation, English sneaks in with Lorna, emerges from his disguise as the English bishop in front of Sauvage and accuses him of treason. Oblivious to the fact that the idea of a fake Archbishop was scratched, English attempts to verify his claim by pulling at the Archbishop's face, believing it to be a mask. This fails predictably. Undeterred, he tries to expose the 'fake' Archbishop a second time. Whilst infiltrating Sauvage's headquarters earlier on in the film, when Sauvage's first plan was still in action, English spotted a tattoo on the lower back of the original wearer of the Archbishop mask: ' Jesus is coming... look busy '. English grabs the Archbishop, turns him round and, in front of everyone at Westminster Abbey and the millions of viewers, bares the Archbishop's tattoo-free rear end. Upon realizing that there is no tattoo there himself, English resorts to a final, last-ditch attempt. He radios to Bough to tell him to play the DVD they retrieved. Bough has the people running the event at gunpoint, and makes them play the DVD on the massive television screen in the Abbey, an act which results in half the world's population watching English, in a shower cap and underpants, dancing and miming along to 'Does your Mother Know', by ABBA. English is subsequently taken away, but breaks free from Sauvage's cronies once again and, swinging from a wire above Sauvage and the Archbishop, grabs the crown before it touches Sauvage's head. While he is trying to prevent the Archbishop from crowning Sauvage king, he falls onto the throne, knocking Sauvage onto the floor, and is inadvertently crowned himself; he then places Sauvage under arrest, reveals the schemes to the public, and abdicates in favour of the Queen.
After a grateful thanking from the Queen, English is asked if there is anything she can do for him. He requests to be knighted. The film ends with a romantic scene in an Aston Martin with Johnny and Lorna cut short by English leaning on the ejector button, propelling Lorna airborne, and into a swimming pool. Watching her is Bough who is on vacation and a man whose bizarre appearance matches the description Johnny invented for an imaginary assailant at the original jewel theft, one facial feature includes, "a scar in the shape of a banana".
[edit] Elements of the film
The band bond guest starred in the film, performing in the Sauvage HQ. The film contained its own soundtrack, which included the opening theme song 'A Man For All Seasons' by Robbie Williams, "Does Your Mother Know" & "Thank You For The Music", both by ABBA.
- The denial of Sauvage's family's claim to the throne references the Jacobite succession. This is never mentioned explicitly (since the Jacobite line still bears real-life descendents), though Sauvage has a portrait of Bonny Prince Charlie in his office, and the Jacobite family (eg the Old Pretender) lived for a time in France before and after their failed invasions of England in the 18th century.
- The total depopulating of the UK comically suggested here parallels that of Diego Garcia.
- That Sauvage will be "England's first French king since 1066" (ie since William the Conqueror) as stated in Tarrant's radio broadcast is inaccurate—William was Norman-French not straight French. There have also been other French kings of England since 1066, most notably Henry II (ruled 1154–1189).
- The suit Johnny English wears before he becomes agent one is extremely similar to the suit Atkinson wore in Mr. Bean. His first name also coincides with the meaning of Mr. Bean's first name Jaś in Polish translations.
- Bough is apparently fluent in three languages—English, French, and C++.
- When Johnny English explains he has to sing Abba's "Thank you for the music" in E flat after falling down the hole, he does in fact sing it in B Flat!
[edit] Parody elements
- Agent One's throwing his coat onto the hatstand (and English's failed attempt to imitate it) is in imitation of James Bond's throwing his hat onto the hatstand.
- The car chase with the car in grapples is a parody of more conventional car chases in Bond films.
- Bough is a pun on "boff", an English truncation of "boffin". This, presumably, refers to Atkinson's Barclaycard television advertisements of the early- to mid-1990s, where he was accompanied by a comically wise, Barclaycard-using sidekick of the same name.
- English's organization is called MI7, a parody of MI5 and MI6. MI7 did exist, but in a different form. The head of MI7 here is named Pegasus, after the winged horse of Greek mythology.
[edit] Factual comparisons
- The news broadcast at the end of the film claims that high treason still carries the death penalty. In fact, since the coming into force of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the United Kingdom abolished civil capital punishment completely.
- Sauvage's face is seen being printed onto stamps and paper money, though this seems an unlikely compression of usual time if his coronation is happening less than a week after the Queen's abdication. The issuing of commemorative stamps in this short time, however, is more realistic.
- Trevor McDonald's broadcast states that the identity of the agent who saved the Queen is being kept secret, whereas a copy of The Times being read in the post-credits sequence shows English's name and face—the latter is more likely, though the two are not entirely incompatible.
- In real life the British Monarch cannot be forced to abdicate; this requires an act of Parliament.
- Modern day British Monarchs have no significant power, so Sauvage would not have been able to carry out his plans without approval from the British Government.
- The need for the Archbishop of Canterbury in a coronation is true, though the need for a bishop for each of England, Wales and Scotland is inaccurate.
- The use of the music Zadok the Priest, and some of the coronation service text, are correct.
- The footage of Concorde and the Red Arrows is documentary footage, either from Concorde's anniversary or from a royal jubilee.
[edit] Elizabeth II
- During the film, the Queen's face is never shown. She is always shown from behind, except for once when she signs the letter of abdication, where her dog's life is threatened, and then only her hand is seen.
- The conferring of a knighthood, even in exceptional circumstances such as this, would usually occur in the birthday or new year honours list rather than immediately afterwards.
[edit] Filming locations
- Some scenes were filmed at Canary Wharf in London— indeed, the film duplicates the single real tower into two identical ones (albeit on the real site) for the fictional London Hospital and Sauvage's headquarters.
- The scenes set in Westminster Abbey were filmed in St. Albans Abbey (though this connection is solely implied through the dialogue— for this footage is never intercut with footage of the real abbey's exterior).
- The exteriors in the first credits sequence scene is Burghley House or Hardwick Hall.
- 'Sandringham' is Hughenden Manor.[2]
- The exterior and interior of MI7's headquarters which English enters at the start is Freemasons' Hall, London, which is also used as Thames House (the MI5 headquarters) in Spooks.
- The scenes where Johnny English drives into Dover, Kent along the A20 road (with Dover Castle in the background) and then enters the Port of Dover (with a "Dover Ferry Terminal" sign, Dover's Athol Terrace and the White Cliffs of Dover in the background) to catch a ferry to France, were all shot on location.
- The exterior of Sauvage's French chateau is actually the castle atop St Michael's Mount in Cornwall.
[edit] Sequel
There have been reports of a sequel to Johnny English.[3] Atkinson confirmed on Richard & Judy on March 28, 2007 that a script for a second film was being worked on. Atkinson also said in an interview for Mr. Bean's Holiday that there is quite a moderate chance for a sequel.
[edit] Reception
The film was met with moderatly negative reviews. It scored a 33% positive rating of Rotten Tomatoes (Rotten). Most critics believed the film was predictable in some sense and that the story wasn't worth anything, aside from jokes. Most positive reviews complemented the jokes as being funny, but not 'laugh out loud'.
[edit] Soundtrack
All tracks by London Metropolitan Orchestra unless otherwise noted.
- "A Man For All Seasons" – Robbie Williams
- "Theme from Johnny English"
- "Russian Affairs"
- "A Man of Sophistication"
- "Kismet" – bond
- "Truck Chase"
- "The Only Ones" – Moloko
- "Parachute Drop"
- "Pascal's Evil Plan"
- "Theme from Johnny English (Salsa Version)" – Bond
- "Off the Case"
- "Cafe Conversation"
- "Into Pascal's Lair"
- "Does Your Mother Know" – ABBA
- "For England"
- "Riviera Hideaway"
- "Agent No. 1"
[edit] References
- ^ a b Johnny English (2003). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ Hughenden Manor. National Trust. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ Johnny English 2 (TBA) - Rowan Atkinson
[edit] External links
