Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) Review

"You're looking particularly beautiful tonight."
-Johnny English



When a cyber attack exposes the identity of all of MI7's agents, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is brought out of retirement to combat the threat.  Allied with his old partner, Bough (Ben Miller), the two of them are the world's only hope in stopping tech-terrorist, Jason Volta (Jake Lacy).


What Works:

James Bond is my favorite movie series, so I'm always up for a parody as long as it's done well.  There are some pretty greats nods to the Bond films.  We have Johnny knocking over a bunch of cyclists in southern France, a gun sticking out from behind a curtain, which is aimed at a dance floor, and we even get a Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, as Johnny's love interest.  It's evident that the filmmakers are fans of Bond and I really appreciate that.

Rowan Atkinson is always fun in this role.  He sells the physical comedy like nobody's business and I love how confident he is despite past events.  Johnny English is a really fun character and I liked seeing him again.

It was great to have Johnny reunite with Bough, whose scenes were cut from the second film.  I really like their dynamic.  They have great chemistry and I could watch a whole TV show of the two of them bumbling their way through their missions.

Finally, the theme of the film works very well.  The villain is a cyber terrorist with the latest tech in the world.  Johnny and Bough decide to go after him with all low-tech gear so they are harder to trace.  It's a bit like Skyfall, but dialed up to 11.  It justifies this films existence with an interesting premise.  Johnny spends the entire 3rd act running around in a suit of armor, so it's safe to safe they commit to the bit.


What Sucks:

Not all of the humor works for me.  The physical stuff is great, but some of the dialogue simply falls flat.

One thing I liked about the second film was that it was much darker than the first.  This time around they dial it back.  I don't think anyone gets killed in this movie, which makes the stakes feel substantially lower.

Finally, Jake Lacy isn't great as the main antagonist.  I get what they were going for.  They wanted a Mark Zuckerberg-type super-villain and I love that idea.  Lacy is just too bland to make that work.  He doesn't play well enough with Atkinson.  They needed someone who could chew on the scenery a bit more and dial the arrogance up to 11.


Verdict:

Johnny English Strikes Again is the weakest film in the series, but it's still fun.  Rowan Atkinson and Ben Miller are great, the physical comedy is on point, and I loved the James Bond homages.  I wish they had cast someone else as the villain, not all of the humor works, and the tone should have been darker, but this movie has still got it going on.

 7/10: Good 

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