I’m not much a fan of the Johnny English movies. They were okay, I guess – watchable. Good enough for a couple of chuckles. But I never really developed any strong fondness
for them. Hence, Johnny English Strikes Again was a film that I didn’t really seek to
watch in 2018. Still, I decided to watch
it eventually for two reasons:
- Since I saw the first two installments, watching the third was demanded by the obsessive movie completionist in me. It’s a curse.
- I sincerely believe Rowan Atkinson is a comedy genius. And even though the Johnny English movies aren’t his finest works, there’s always the chance of seeing some glimpse of his genius in this latest installment.
Johnny English Strikes Again sees MI7 getting hit by a cyber-attack
from an unknown enemy, which releases the classified identities of its undercover
agents out into the world. With every current
agent now exposed, there is no one left to take the mission of identifying and capturing
the culprits. Thus, MI7 is left with no
choice but to call in retired secret agent Johnny English (Atkinson), who is
now working as a teacher in a boarding school, and give him the assignment. Lacking the technological savvy (or any form
of savvy, for that matter) required for such a job, English sets off for probably
his most challenging – and most disastrous – case yet.
How one will deem Johnny English Strikes Again is dependent
on what he thought of its predecessors. It’s because it’s basically more of the same. Thus, if he enjoyed the first two, then he would likely enjoy this, too; if he disliked them, then he would dislike
it, too. But, either way, because it’s more of the same, he would
acknowledge that it’s an unnecessary sequel.
It really doesn’t offer anything new.
Its story beats and gags strongly resemble those that the previous movies
had. And master of physical comedy that
he is, the best thing that Atkinson can do here is repeat old routines reminiscent
of Mr. Bean.
In the end, there’s familiar fun to be had from Johnny English Strikes Again as a parody of James Bond-type spy films. One could derive a bit more appreciation of it by treating it as a sort of throwback display of basic, old-fashioned spoofery. Nevertheless, it’s a mediocre film at best, and ultimately a waste of time.
In the end, there’s familiar fun to be had from Johnny English Strikes Again as a parody of James Bond-type spy films. One could derive a bit more appreciation of it by treating it as a sort of throwback display of basic, old-fashioned spoofery. Nevertheless, it’s a mediocre film at best, and ultimately a waste of time.
It earned a good profit though, so a
Johnny English 4 is inevitable.
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