After a gap of seven years, Rowan Atkinson returns as the unfathomably ingenious MI7 agent Johnny English in “Johnny English Strikes Again” to nab a new, cleverer enemy—this time, a Silicon Valley billionaire named Jason Volta (Jake Lacy), whose evil plans to control the world are tech-driven.
Since this is the third installment in the series, you can expect a promising plot created around some exciting locations in the UK and France, with some new characters joining English in his endeavour to save the world. One main lead to join Rowan this time is Olga Kurylenko, who gave a superb performance as Camille, the ‘Bond Girl’ in “Quantum of Solace” (2008). Another character back onscreen is Ben Miller, as agent Bough, Johnny’s reliable subordinate from the first film in the series.
What the filmmakers have kept the same throughout all the films in the series is the default manner in which English approaches his mission and ultimately foils the enemy’s plans. Another commonality among all the films is that the mission always reaches its climax in an old, distant castle where an evil mastermind aims to start off his supreme authority over the world. With age comes wisdom and, what you can see to have grown manifold this time, is Johnny’s sharp wit, in parallel to his overconfident intellect, landing him and his subordinates in bigger troubles and imminent defeat right before tasting victory.
Compared with the previous two films, “Johnny English Strikes Again” also packs loads of remarkably funny scenes and some more quirky action—all of this in a shorter runtime, which is a fine development for the franchise. However, of the three movies, it turns out that it is the second film—“Johnny English Reborn”—which is the most thrilling and elaborate in its plot.
Every part in the “Johnny English” trilogy shadows the real political environment in the UK. Owing to its release in 2018, this third installment in the franchise features Emma Thompson as the British Prime Minister, as her real counterpart in 2018 was also a lady—Theresa May. Earlier, in the previous two films, the role of the PM was played by male actors, strongly hinting at Tony Blair and David Cameron, during their respective tenures as the prime ministers. “Johnny English Strikes Again” also points at the global pressure faced by the European nation and, the political tensions that were prevailing in the UK around 2018—which resulted in Brexit in the years that have followed. The UK has been shown to be almost crumbling under global forces.
Cinematically, the “Johnny English” franchise has undeniably been a less serious, more amusing and spoofed version of James Bond. Both English and Bond are given the most dangerous missions in each of their respective universes; however, would anyone disagree that it is Johnny who gives more hiccups to his enemies by his larger-than-life conscience and unpredictable wisdom?
But even though what Rowan does onscreen is purely remarkable, there are moments when the viewers do crave for at least one right move from him, as 9 out of his 10 moves always go ridiculously wrong—giving a repetitive feel to the scenes. Broadly, this film has joined others in their attempt to showcase the dominating and controlling nature of tech companies, justifying the fact that what goes into cinema is a direct reflection of what is happening in the real world. Nonetheless, if the enemy has gotten technically more advanced, so has our agent! This time, you can expect to see some even fancier gadgets and tools at Johnny’s disposal to weed out the evil, rightfully supporting a dialogue from “Fast and the Furious 6”—“If you want to catch the wolves, you need wolves!”
Hearing Rowan Atkison’s English accent is a delight in itself, considering all the years we saw him playing the silent ‘Mr Bean.’ And surely one of the most terrific performances given by Rowan until now, “Johnny English Strikes Again” does secure a distinct place for itself in the comedy genre and is bound to entertain you beyond imaginations. Just make sure that you can keep up with a theme and storyline that you’ve already watched twice!
