JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (2011)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Oliver Parker
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya
RunTime: 1 hr 42 mins
Released By:  UIP
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://www.johnnyenglishreborn.com/

Opening Day: 15 September 2011

Synopsis: Rowan Atkinson returns to the role of the improbable secret agent who doesn’t know fear or danger in the comedy spy-thriller Johnny English Reborn. In his latest adventure, the most unlikely intelligence officer in Her Majesty’s Secret Service must stop a group of international assassins before they eliminate a world leader and cause global chaos. In the years since MI7’s top spy vanished off the grid, he has been honing his unique skills in a remote region of Asia. But when his agency superiors learn of an attempt against the Chinese premier’s life, they must hunt down the highly unorthodox agent. Now that the world needs him once again, Johnny English is back in action. With one shot at redemption, he must employ the latest in hi-tech gadgets to unravel a web of conspiracy that runs throughout the KGB, CIA and even MI7. With mere days until a heads of state conference, one man must use every trick in his playbook to protect us all. For Johnny English, disaster may be an option, but failure never is.

Movie Review:

Humour is a funny thing- you either get it, or you don’t. Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Johnny English Reborn’ trades in the specific brand of humour called slapstick, and if you think your funny bone responds to that kind of humour, well let’s just say you’re in for a riotous treat. Reprising his role eight years after the original, Atkinson is once again in top form as the bumbling British Intelligence agent who screws up just about every plan but somehow manages to save the day.

It’s improbable certainly, but ‘Johnny English’ was never a character that was borne out of reality. Rather, it was originated by Atkinson for a series of 1992-97 Barclaycard commercials to spoof the iconic James Bond films and subsequently given the big screen treatment by regular ‘Bond’ writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Neither return for this sequel- instead it is ‘Mr Bean’s Vacation’ scripter Hamish McColl who brings the incompetent secret agent out of his exile in a Tibetan monastery. 

The rebirth here refers to his call back into action by MI-7 chief Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson) from a life spent mastering ‘mind over body’ techniques (e.g. surviving heavy kicks to his genitals and walking on hot coals) after an embarrassing mission gone wrong in Mozambique. Apparently, there’s been a plot to assassinate the Chinese Premier, and MI-7’s informant Fisher (Richard Schliff) will only talk to English. The reason why isn’t that convincing, but let’s face it, isn’t particularly important at all. 

Indeed, as with other Atkinson films, the plot is second fiddle to the gags and only present to provide some form of continuity. Fortunately then, the hit-to-miss ratio of the gags in this sequel is pretty high- thanks in no small measure to Atkinson’s impeccable comic timing. Right from the beginning where we witness English’s ‘gruelling’ training, it’s clear that Atkinson has not lost his unique gift for deadpan comedy. You would have seen some of the best bits in the trailer (like English raising and lowering his chair at an intelligence briefing with the Prime Minister), but even these are just as hilarious when you see them once again. 

As with ‘Mr Bean’, the recipe lies in Atkinson’s ability to remain straight-faced through all kinds of nonsensical shtick- and nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than in English’s banter with his young sidekick Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuva in an obvious allusion to Chris Tucker’s character in the ‘Rush Hour’ movies). Watching how English runs rings around his smarter counterpart especially when the latter is plainly right is simply hilarious, just as when English rubbishes Tucker’s deduction of the mole within MI-7 or insists on his own memory of what the various gadgets do.

But this sequel is also much funnier than the original because of director Olivier Parker’s sharp eye for screwball comedy. A recurring gag where English mistakes Pamela’s mum- and subsequently the Queen- for a Chinese assassin (Mind Your Language’s Lim Pik-Sen) is amusing, and so too is English’s escape on a motorised wheelchair from his fellow MI-7 agents after being framed. The true gems in the entire movie however are two uproarious sequences- the first an extended pursuit that sees English in Hong Kong constantly outsmarting a much more agile enemy; and the second a lesson in ‘how not to fly a helicopter’ with English as the pilot. We guarantee both will crack you up silly, complemented of course by Atkinson’s spot-on delivery.

Because Atkinson is so singularly outstanding, the supporting players are inevitably eclipsed. Anderson’s no-nonsense routine is too typical to stand out, and Rosamund Pike’s behavioural psychologist cum English’s love interest doesn’t get enough play in the film. Ditto for Dominic West’s fellow agent Simon, who looks like he wandered off the set of the next Bond film onto this spoof. It isn’t their fault that their characters get so short shrift, but this is ultimately a movie that rests on Atkinson’s shoulders.

Of course, if there’s anyone who can pull off Johnny English, you can be sure that Rowan Atkinson will do it handily. Atkinson shows why he is truly a comic genius by reaching into his bag of tricks and displaying them without reservation for his audience- no matter physical gimmicks, farce, wordplays and his signature Bean-faced rubber expressions. Nonetheless, ‘Johnny English Reborn’ is as a parody of just about every spy film ever made built on the language of slapstick- so check your brains at the door if you must and prepare to be rib-tickled silly.  

Movie Rating:  

(Rowan Atkinson is amusing as ever, and this sequel is a zany, lively and outright hilarious spoof of the James Bond films)

Review by Gabriel Chong