One other agent, Johnny English, will take their place. 
When you say James Bond, everyone imagines he's a brilliant guy, adored by all sorts of women, but it's true, women stick to him like flies to a fly swatter. But there is no James Bond in this film, there is only Agent One, who dies soon after, and at his funeral other and necessary agents die as well, so the agent business is left to Johnny English, who is a clone of Master Beene, who can't be an agent at all, and everything he comes up with is somehow hokey and unlikely. And this agent is given the most important job of all, to protect the British Crown Jewels from thieves and thus actually himself, because this most important job is his dream job and if he wants to continue his work as a secret agent he has to protect the jewels. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen and everything goes wrong with
e.
So this is the opening of one of the many James Bond parodies, James Bond is a parody of himself, but Johnny English considers J.B. Everything stands and falls on the performance of the actors, especially Mr. Bond. Bean, that is, on Rowan Atkison, who manages to break away from the inept Mr. Bean and form a complex character who 
does talk, does some action, and even acts, unfortunately he is the only bright spot because his villain is no match for him. Pascal Sauvage – John Malkovich, only French babbles and wants to get the Queen's crown, why I guess, but I won't tell you, the point is not to give away the most important action, the main idea. But Rowan Atkinson and John Malkovich are not the only famous actors. They are also joined by the singer Natalie Imbruglia as the classic Bond girl, the English girl. It's definitely apparent that, unlike other singers, she might even know how to act, and so she's an experienced second to all those seasoned actors.
I mustn't forget a bit of awkwardness, like English's mistake in skydiving, or his mistake in mistaking a real funeral for a fake one. Let's also not forget that he suffers from a Bean complex, that he can't really do anything right. He can't arrest the bad guys, he can't walk the right path, and most importantly, he can't, as he should properly as a secret agent, even fire a shot because his firearm is constantly falling apart.
And now for a bit of positivity, the film is actually a pretty good parody of James Bond, even better in some moments. And when is it better? Immediately in the opening credits, because instead of Madonna, Bond, I mean English, sings a song by Robbie Williams, who totally nails Madonna's hit and sings it the way a proper James Bond song should be. And what do J.E. and J.B. have in common? They're screenwriters, after all.
Review written: June 4, 2003
Original article October 24, 2018 – Kritiky.cz
