The return of Johnny English in Johnny English Reborn. The film is brilliantly written and will surely make you laugh, giving you a breath of fresh air and sure entertainment in this new comedy spy-thriller. In this movie, he had been confined in a remote region in Tibet as penance for a horrible and failed mission in Mozambique five years earlier. He had been living in shame and seeking repentance for what had happened and Tibet is the perfect place. After a visit from an MI7 agent, he was convinced to come back as an spy in Her Majesty’s Secret Service for a mission against the plot to assassinate the Chinese premier. As the tagline puts it: “One man. One mission. No chance.”
I haven’t watched the first movie of Johnny English back in 2003. It took eight years before a sequel is made. After watching Johnny English Reborn, it made me think I should have seen the first one too. The movie relies on a much loved figure of Rowan Atkinson’s rubber-like face and comedy antics to pull everything together. As he goes into the mission to uncover the plot which is the center of the story, he is teamed up with Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya), a young, dedicated spy who portrays much more sensitivity in the disguises of the enemy. He is good in handling that role, because if English will take over, the story ends in less than an hour. Short time, less fun, less chuckle. And we will all be disappointed.
Simon Ambrose, a good friend of English in the movie is as charming as a devil. I won’t write here his role in the film to deny those who have not seen the movie, a spoiler. As Pegasus, Gillian Anderson gives justice to her role, just like her XFiles’ days as Agent Scully. She also excellently pulled off that English accent everyone (maybe for me) admires and imitates. Rosamund Pike as Kate Sumner, and the romantic atmosphere between her and English is well, awkward.
Summary, Johnny English is light-hearted, funny-with scenes like a handful of missing to kill the lady assassin from HongKong, among his notable facial expressions that can be considered a World’s Treasure. The film is also composed of great actors and Bond films or Bond-theme fims will never be complete without those hi-tech gadgets. Bullet proof umbrella bomb, anyone?