Movie Review: Johnny English Reborn
There are three words that describe Johnny English Reborn. The first is silly; the second is harmless; the third is okay. It’s a silly, harmless comedy that doesn’t stand-out from the crowd, but has enough wit and fun to keep it far from the realm of dismal failure.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) has left British Intelligence behind, after a rather embarrassing foul-up that left the newly elected leader of Mozambique dead (an incident which, when mentioned, gives Johnny a rather nasty twitch). He’s called back into action when an old CIA contact (Richard Schiff) has information he’ll only give to Johnny, and when that contact ends up dead, English realizes that there is a much bigger plot afoot, involving assassination, double agents, secret government weapons projects, and a vicious killer cleaning lady who, from behind, bears more than a passing resemblance to a harmless old woman (you can probably see where that gag is going). When Johnny finds himself framed for the plot, he’ll need the help of his new partner Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya) and behavioral psychologist Kate (Rosamund Pike) to get his named cleared, find out who framed him, and stop the evil plot before it’s too late.
Sound familiar? It’s pretty much every spy movie ever made rolled into one, so don’t expect a clever plot or any of the twists to really surprise you. What keeps the ball rolling is Atkinson’s sense of comic timing and the fun the cast seems to be having (Gillian Anderson, as British intelligence head Pegasus, even plays the normally thankless “straight man” role with lots of energy). While many of the jokes are simple rehashes of physical slapstick seen countless times, there are some fantastic bits that, despite how silly and ridiculous the movie gets, are clever and original enough to the point that one wonders why they haven’t been done before. One great scene involves Atkinson chasing down a much younger spy. Anyone who has gotten tired of the antics of freerunning (a real life activity where people leap and flip almost like magic off of rooftops and up fire escapes for the sheer fun of it, notably seen early on in Casino Royale) will love Atkinson’s various common sense methods of keeping pace with him. Another involves English and Tucker’s argument about what equipment is which, and the spectacular backfire that ensues.
In fact, Kaluuya makes a fine foil for Atkinson, as the two play off of each other quite well. The romance between Pike and Atkinson? Eh, not so much. But she makes the most of her role, and looks good doing it. Other familiar faces to watchers of British television old and new crop up, including Torchwood’s Burn Gorman as a sinister conspirator and Atkinson’s old Blackadder companion Tim McInnerny as the wheelchair-bound head of the gadgets department. The only one who doesn’t particularly stand out is actually one of the bigger names in the cast, Dominic West, who plays top British Agent Ambrose. If you were to ask me, I would think he would’ve gladly traded in his smarmy, arrogant role if he could just let loose like the rest of the cast, but got stuck only getting a few good moments in here and there. His best moment comes from a confrontation in a restaurant bathroom (with a much more subtle gag than you might expect), and even it’s still playing second banana to Atkinson becoming stupid for the third or fourth time.
Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English Reborn. © 2011 – Universal Pictures.
And that’s one of the main problems of the film; in order to make the plot unfold, English has to flip-flop between impressively smart and oppressively stupid with no explanation than it’s convenient at the time. For every instance where he outwits and outfights a group of thugs, he accidentally hands over vital evidence to the obviously wrong person. When the double agent is revealed, he, of course, doesn’t believe it, even though there’s a mountain of evidence staring him right in his face. Sneaking his way into the conference to stop the assassination, he…well, not to give anything away, but the only reason anyone would do what he does is to set up the next series of gags, which is a huge leap of logic even for a film as goofy as this. Granted, what follows shows how, even in his 50s, Atkinson is still a great physical comedian, but the setup is still just a bit too hokey.
Overall, Johnny English Reborn is probably not worth spending a whopping eight bucks to see on opening day, but neither will it leave a bad taste in your mouth after it’s over. While not aimed at children (its PG rating is not so much to make it safe for children as it is simply Atkinson’s style of humor), if you’ve already seen Dolphin Tale and The Lion King 3D you should have no problems letting the kiddies drag you to this one. It won’t wow you, but it won’t hurt, either.
Seth Paul
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