Johnny English first arrived to entertain us in 2003 and in the hands of the wickedly talented Rowan Atkinson, it was a surprising and hysterical delight. Atkinson, fresh off years of portraying the never-talks Mr. Bean, was finally able to say something and show the world that he can much more than a physical comic.
Of course, he was ever the physical comedy champion in Johnny English, but there was much more to his performance. The story followed a British secret agent who was less James Bond and more Abbott and Costello. That is why it was so hilarious and by the time the film was done running through theaters, it had banked over $160 million, thus spawning a sequel—2011’s Johnny English Reborn.
Here we are in 2018 and Johnny English Strikes Again finds a digital world that just might need an analog hero. Ready to answer the call of Her Majesty, English leaves his private school teaching “retirement” when all of MI7’s agents are exposed by a notorious hacker who is threatening massive global attacks of the electronic nature. Sounds like a great idea, right? Call in a guy who is still using a flip phone to solve the mystery and true terror potential of a master technological titan hacker. It’s so crazy, it might just work… or at least leave the audience in hysterical stitches.
Although not as funny as the first film, the third film has more laughs-per-minutes than the second… which means the franchise is heading in the right direction.
English is paired once again with the MI7 desk jockey Pegasus (Adam James), who appears to be more qualified to lead these missions than English, again that is what drives the humor. But, thanks to Pegasus, English is still alive, only a few innocents get slightly injured. Thus, it appears that the ends always justify the laugh-inducing ludicrous means.
There are several moments in Johnny English Strikes Again that are slap-your-knee hysterical. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments abound, but it is not enough to forgive the elementary screenplay by William Davies (who has a hand in the writing of all three of these films). Then again, this film is not trying to be a James Bond flick. It’s a parody and as such, the plot is beside the point. Still, it’s nice if all the I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed so that the audience is not taken firmly out of the movie itself by situational comedy that makes us laugh, but simultaneously has us scratching our heads in terms of how this relates to the overreaching arc of the tale.
Everyone involved is game for the ride, and also knows exactly what film they are in—especially the impeccably cast Emma Thompson as the Prime Minister. The Oscar winner is given so many absolutely ridiculous moments to inhabit, it takes the supremist of her acting talents to pull it off without gazing into the camera and saying, “what am I doing here?”
Atkinson was born to be English. Yes, that sentence works on several levels. But seriously, he has such aplomb as the character that believe it or not, we would welcome a fourth installment, just to see where he takes this nut job—who truly believes that he is among the best his country has to offer. There are few comedians in the world that not only produce a physical response to their comedy, but a vocal one as well. Numerous moments in Johnny English Strikes Again found the audience uttering, “oh, no,” or “please no,” as English went ahead and did whatever it was we were begging him not to and the result is always a laugh.
That is why anyone who goes to a Johnny English movie, it is to witnessing Atkinson in his uniquely British, bravely bombastic, comedic genius generating laughs manor, that we see coming a mile away… yet it makes us LOL anyway.
Grade: B-