Johnny English

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Making a spoof of a familiar genre, movie or theme is always tricky in not disappointing the fans of that specific genre. But actually that is not the point since these spoofs merely bring the qualities of that genre into another jacket, simply remember the terrific spoof on Star Wars, namely Spaceballs, with Rambo you had the great Hot Shots 2 or the one on Star Trek, the excellent Galaxy Quest. With Triple X you had a serious over the top version of James Bond and with Agent Cody Banks you have a kid's version. Johnny English is still something different, with this being a more comical version of the Bond franchise. And with Mr. Bean himself at the helm of that fact, you've must got some laughs truly? And for a composer spoofing means a dream where you can bring the sound normally associated with only that genre with a little bit of difference, if only because a different composer can bring another approach to that sound. Upcoming hot shot Edward Shearmur was at the helm of this one and his appropriate style and intelligent writing made of this album a winner in all regards. I especially realized that people praised this score more because of the fact they hated Die Another Day so much, the latest Bond score. I in fact loved DAD more then The World is not Enough and therefore I realized I enjoyed both recent albums equally as the other, if for Johnny English to have some negative points and some very strong ones. I for one ain't the biggest Bond fan and I was getting somewhat tired of hearing the Bond theme, especially in Die Another Day I liked simply the sub themes. Johnny English only has one major theme appearing enough and that is the main theme, and probably the reason why I like this score is because of this appropriate Bond spoof theme, making all the difference from the original Bond theme.

The theme of Johnny English opens the score section really well in 'Theme from Johnny English', its especially strong with the horns and guitar and instantly likeable. In fact you'll hear a lot of variations on this theme and especially in 'Russian Affairs' followed in that track by some laid back jazz. This jazz piece shows further proof in 'A Man of Sophistication'. The only real action track is 'Truck Chase' and for 4 minutes, the theme is constantly performed on brass, even with that trademark over the top performance of the trumpet appearing in another variation track of the main theme namely 'Parachute Drop'. The problem I have with this score is actually that the theme makes up all of the effort since the evil theme is great, and appears with choir in 'Pascal's Evil Plan' but it doesn't receive this excellent menace as Arnold's bad guy theme received in Die Another Day. In that score we went back to the menacing choral display of Stargate and Godzilla, here it remains somewhat light on the scale. 'Off the Case' moves after a minute into great main theme performances with an excellent beat and the jazzy laid back attitude with piano returns in 'Café Conversation'. A highlight is the short theme display in 'For England', especially since the theme is starting from the second part of the main theme and shows here the heroism more in tone, especially with the strings and brass creating true Giacchino influences from the Medal of Honor scores. This short part alone makes all the difference before the traditional sunny and this time jazzy mood reappears in track 16. The main theme ends its final stroke in 'Agent No. 1', here the traditional guitar is replaced by an electric guitar and it brings a little more oomph to the proceedings. However another fault is that this cue is 15 minutes long and it brings roughly 6 minutes of music, becoming 9 minutes of silence before ending with somewhat sad the piano jazz theme of track 12. It basically ends somewhat low on energy since the electric guitar theme could have brought more joy to the finale of the score.

The third and final fault of this score is that the songs equally take a lot of part into the score, and especially run through each score track practically. Don't get me wrong, I like the traditional Bond, sorry English song of Robin Williams since his style matches the main theme's swing and ABBA's song was heard over the trailer's second part, and since ABBA made no real weak songs in the early times, their inclusion is without fault. However I feel that the group Bond brings somewhat non important material. 'Kismet' is fun with its violin inclusions but another different version of the main theme (especially if you heard practically every variation there is to be) doesn't make much sense and 'The Only Ones' is not bad but not great. Here especially they could have placed Hooverphonic's amazing bond like song "Sometimes" since that is more of a Bond song then Moloko's version. Basically this also means that apart from the songs, Shearmur's material is made of a lot of the main theme of Johnny English and not a lot of the subthemes, which in the end bring then also songs and 9 minutes of silence with it. But don't get me wrong since Johnny English apart from all that still makes for a great album. Its just the impression again that I'm a bit disappointed because I expected a bit more from this score. But also the sign that I'm no real Bond musical fan might explain a bit in that process. However, I like a fun soundtrack all the same and Shearmur's tracks like 2, 6, 9, 11 and 15 are so easy to like that they make the album. That the songs from 1 and 14 do it too make all the more problems for songs which work well but are mixed too much into the material of Shearmur, and especially if they bring another theme variation (like Bond) or 10 minutes of silence. Yet, Johnny English remains overall a Bond orchestral effort which a lot of Barry fans will like and indeed the theme gives the impression that "Dear Sir" is said probably by Atkinson in the most profound Bond way imaginable.

Score: ***1/2
Songs: ***

\ľľľ1/2/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. A Man Of All Seasons: Robbie Williams (3.59)

2. Theme From Johnny English (2.25) Excellent Track

3. Russian Affairs (1.27)

4. A Man Of Sophistication (1.35)

5. Kismet: Bond (5.14)

6. Truck Chase (4.52) Excellent Track

7. The Only Ones: Moloko (4.12)

8. Parachute Drop (2.47)

9. Pascal's Evil Plan (2.33)

10. Theme From Johnny English "Salsa Version": Bond (3.21)

11. Off The Case (2.00)

12. Café Conversation (2.12)

13. Into Pascal's Lair (1.43)

14. Does Your Mother Know: ABBA (3.14)

15. For England (2.22) Excellent Track

16. Riviera Hideaway (1.17)

17. Agent No. 1 (15.13)

Total Length: 60.40

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Edward Shearmur ===