This review is from: Johnny English Reborn [DVD] (DVD)
I usually find watching the sequel to a brilliant film a disappointment. With this film, however, that was not the case. If you enjoyed the first Johnny English film, you’ll enjoy this one too. I was at the cinema last night and laughed quite a few times aloud, along with many other people. I’ll definitely be watching this film again sometime.
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Johnny English Reborn has, like its 2003 predecessor, taken a bit of a critical kicking. Perhaps it’s unfashionable for a serious film critic to admit to enjoying a film that is clearly made to be an easy-to-watch, silly and very British Spy farce. Reborn is basically a vehicle for Rowan Atkinson’s rubbery talents and unquestionable prowess for physical comedy, and while it undoubtedly retreads some familiar ground, is better than most critics would have you believe.
Our unlikely bumbling Superspy, currently lying low after a `balls-up’ on a mission in Mozambique, is learning martial arts in a Himalayan mountain retreat. He is summoned back to MI7 to liaise with an informant who will speak only to him and here he uncovers a plot to assassinate the Chinese Premier, sending him on a globe-trotting mission to uncover the truth behind a terrorist organisation known as `Vortex’.
English returns from his Himalayan retreat braver, stronger, faster and with a heightened ability to take repeated kicks to the groin. He is a less desperate character than in his first outing, though still accident-prone and he approaches everything with an ill-deserved but rather endearing smugness.
The film is amusing and diverting rather than hilarious, but there are still a few very funny moments which I will not spoil by describing and one in particular involving an important meeting with the PM and English’s broken chair, which had me literally crying with laughter. There is also a constantly amusing running gag where English repeatedly mistakes little old ladies for a Chinese assassin.
The excellent supporting cast, including Gillian Anderson as MI7 chief Pegasus, Dominic West (of The Wire) and the gorgeous Rosamund Pike, herself a former Bond Girl, is perhaps a little under-used, but they do their best with the material they are given. Watch out though for rising star Daniel Kaluuya, who puts in a promising comedic performance as wet-behind-the-ears Special Agent Tucker, who still lives with his mum.
Yes, the humour is rather old-fashioned, with an over-reliance on sight gags and slapstick, but actually feels quite refreshing at a time when cinema releases are littered with gross-out comedies. Not every joke hits its mark, but there’s enough amiability and good natured fun to carry it through its 100 minute running time.
Watch it expecting high-brow humour, and you’ll be disappointed. Not a critic’s favourite then, but as an undemanding slice of good family fun, it succeeds.
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This review is from: Johnny English Reborn [DVD] (DVD)
Johnny English is a goofball comedy with very little wit or subtlety yet it still manages to entertain and raise a few giggles along the way. Rowan Atkinson has been trying to elevate this Barclay Card advert character for years now with middling results. Whilst it is never clever or laugh out loud funny, it is harmless and mildly entertaining.
The story is basic at best and is just really there to cram in as many familiar spy tropes (read James Bond clichés) as possible to poke a little fun at. The hit rate of the jokes is low but when they do hit the right mark there are laughs to be had. In particular the scene where Johnny is chasing down a bad guy on foot and recalls his years of training in the Tibetan mountains to outwit his foe. Also a car chase with Johnny using an motorised wheelchair is so ridiculous and poorly conceived that it ends in the so bad it’s good category. That pretty much sums up most of this film, so bad it’s good. The characters are paper thin and clichéd, the plot almost non-existent and the less said about agent Tucker the better. However it is just an amusing couple of hours. It pelts along at a reasonable rate so that by the time you feel you have had enough it’s all over.
Rowan Atkinson plays it in much the same way as his other famous creation except with the power of words, but his contorting and manic facial expressions still wring out a few sly smiles.
But it is time to leave it be. The first film was a good gentle laugh and this sequel just about keeps its head above water, but another outing will surely sink it. Austin Powers succeeded in parodying the entire spy genre. Wringing James Bond for laughs can only go so far and the time has come for Johnny English to hand back his licence to kill before he kills his career completely.
Fun for a while but ultimately hollow.
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Johnny English Reborn,
I usually find watching the sequel to a brilliant film a disappointment. With this film, however, that was not the case. If you enjoyed the first Johnny English film, you’ll enjoy this one too. I was at the cinema last night and laughed quite a few times aloud, along with many other people. I’ll definitely be watching this film again sometime.
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|Spying For You,
Johnny English Reborn has, like its 2003 predecessor, taken a bit of a critical kicking. Perhaps it’s unfashionable for a serious film critic to admit to enjoying a film that is clearly made to be an easy-to-watch, silly and very British Spy farce. Reborn is basically a vehicle for Rowan Atkinson’s rubbery talents and unquestionable prowess for physical comedy, and while it undoubtedly retreads some familiar ground, is better than most critics would have you believe.
Our unlikely bumbling Superspy, currently lying low after a `balls-up’ on a mission in Mozambique, is learning martial arts in a Himalayan mountain retreat. He is summoned back to MI7 to liaise with an informant who will speak only to him and here he uncovers a plot to assassinate the Chinese Premier, sending him on a globe-trotting mission to uncover the truth behind a terrorist organisation known as `Vortex’.
English returns from his Himalayan retreat braver, stronger, faster and with a heightened ability to take repeated kicks to the groin. He is a less desperate character than in his first outing, though still accident-prone and he approaches everything with an ill-deserved but rather endearing smugness.
The film is amusing and diverting rather than hilarious, but there are still a few very funny moments which I will not spoil by describing and one in particular involving an important meeting with the PM and English’s broken chair, which had me literally crying with laughter. There is also a constantly amusing running gag where English repeatedly mistakes little old ladies for a Chinese assassin.
The excellent supporting cast, including Gillian Anderson as MI7 chief Pegasus, Dominic West (of The Wire) and the gorgeous Rosamund Pike, herself a former Bond Girl, is perhaps a little under-used, but they do their best with the material they are given. Watch out though for rising star Daniel Kaluuya, who puts in a promising comedic performance as wet-behind-the-ears Special Agent Tucker, who still lives with his mum.
Yes, the humour is rather old-fashioned, with an over-reliance on sight gags and slapstick, but actually feels quite refreshing at a time when cinema releases are littered with gross-out comedies. Not every joke hits its mark, but there’s enough amiability and good natured fun to carry it through its 100 minute running time.
Watch it expecting high-brow humour, and you’ll be disappointed. Not a critic’s favourite then, but as an undemanding slice of good family fun, it succeeds.
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|Some Laughs to be had,
Johnny English is a goofball comedy with very little wit or subtlety yet it still manages to entertain and raise a few giggles along the way. Rowan Atkinson has been trying to elevate this Barclay Card advert character for years now with middling results. Whilst it is never clever or laugh out loud funny, it is harmless and mildly entertaining.
The story is basic at best and is just really there to cram in as many familiar spy tropes (read James Bond clichés) as possible to poke a little fun at. The hit rate of the jokes is low but when they do hit the right mark there are laughs to be had. In particular the scene where Johnny is chasing down a bad guy on foot and recalls his years of training in the Tibetan mountains to outwit his foe. Also a car chase with Johnny using an motorised wheelchair is so ridiculous and poorly conceived that it ends in the so bad it’s good category. That pretty much sums up most of this film, so bad it’s good. The characters are paper thin and clichéd, the plot almost non-existent and the less said about agent Tucker the better. However it is just an amusing couple of hours. It pelts along at a reasonable rate so that by the time you feel you have had enough it’s all over.
Rowan Atkinson plays it in much the same way as his other famous creation except with the power of words, but his contorting and manic facial expressions still wring out a few sly smiles.
But it is time to leave it be. The first film was a good gentle laugh and this sequel just about keeps its head above water, but another outing will surely sink it. Austin Powers succeeded in parodying the entire spy genre. Wringing James Bond for laughs can only go so far and the time has come for Johnny English to hand back his licence to kill before he kills his career completely.
Fun for a while but ultimately hollow.
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