Review of Johnny English

Introduction

Rowan Atkinson stars in what originally started life as a series of adverts for Barclaycard. Adverts are hardly ideal film material you`d think but then the concept of the bumbling secret agent is a pretty much tried and tested formula nowadays. So does Johnny English add something new to the genre or does it stick to the by the numbers formula? And more to the point given the sheer awfulness of some of his other movies, is Rowan Atkinson actually funny in this???

Video

The video transfer is first rate; high quality and a crisp clear picture are the order of the day. There`s basically no real problems with the 1.85:1 Anamorphic transfer but then that should be expected of such a recent film really.

Audio

As with the video quality the sound is of a high standard as well. DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks are both included with the DTS soundtrack edging ahead in terms of depth and range of sound.

Music for the most part is fitting as well with an expectedly cheesy theme tune by Robbie Williams which suits the tone of the film nicely.

Features

Not much in the way of extras really, there`s a 25min "Making Of Johnny English" documentary which is basically pure promotional fluff.

Character stats are well as the name sounds really, a textual display of the stats of some of the characters and items related to them, not terribly interesting really.

Then we have the observation test, pass this and you get access to some deleted scenes but you`re unlikely to bother doing this more than once.

Other than the extras stated there is some DVD-ROM content as well but again nothing particularly outstanding.

Conclusion

I tend to either love or hate Rowan Atkinson, for instance Blackadder is one of my favourite TV series yet I cannot stand most of the films he`s been in, Mr Bean in particular stands out. Johnny English is a bit of an exception; at times I loved the film while at others I was watching it through gritted teeth.

While some of the jokes are hit and miss a lot of the ones which should have been hits were stretched out too long which spoiled the effect somewhat. Again you could also see a lot of the jokes coming a mile off, particularly the parachute incident for example. Then again though when it hits it hits hard, the whole car chase sequence was well done and had me in stitches for the majority of it as did the.

The plot is suitably over the top, as are the majority of the characters. From Johnny English himself and his hapless sidekick Bough to the criminal mastermind played in a suitably OTT style by John Malkovich, it has memorable characters and an excellent cast; its just unfortunate that the film itself is fairly average.

In terms of the DVD it`s a bit of a mixed bag; you get a decent film with high quality sound and picture let down by a poor selection of extras. Probably another one for rental rather than buying really as overall it is quite entertaining but it never quite manages to reach its potential.