2011 was the year of sequels, remakes, and reboots. Hollywood churned out new entries in blockbuster franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean, Fast and the Furious, Scream, and Johnny English. Wait, what? Yes, imagine my surprise when a sequel to the 2003 Rowan Atkinson spy spoof was scheduled for release in October. Surely, the original Johnny English was a flop? Domestically it only made $28 million off a $40 million budget. However, it raked in over $132 million in foreign markets, meaning it made four times its production budget. Eight years later, Johnny English Reborn did worse in the U.S. and even better in international theaters with $8 million domestic and $151 foreign. No doubt this has less to do with Atkinson's work on Black Adder and more to do with his instant recognition as the silent bumbler, Mr. Bean.
Secret agent extraordinaire Johnny English (Atkinson) has retreated to the seclusion of a Tibetan monastery to retrain his mind and body following a botched mission in Mozambique. English is called back into action by the fictional MI-7 and its new head Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson), code-named Pegasus. Word is out that a clandestine organization known as Vortex is plotting to assassinate the Chinese premier. English is put on the task and paired with the eager and inexperienced Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya).
The cast also includes Dominic West as the suave Agent Simon Ambrose, Rosamund Pike as a psychologist and potential love interest, and another Black Adder alumnus Tim McInnery as Patch Quartermain, MI-7's weapons designer.
I'm not sure what there is left to mine in the spy genre. The Austin Powers pretty much stripped it bare. It's been eight years since the last movie and the cinematic spy has become a different beast thanks to The Bourne Identity and Casino Royale. Johnny English Reborn attempts to go grittier while parodying all the familiar staples and the combination just doesn't work. It doesn't help that none of the gags are funny or original. There's the standard scene where English is equipped with all the latest high-tech gadgets including a missile launching digital camera and a Rolls Royce Phantom with voice command. Problem is the Bond films made these sequences so famous that they themselves poked fun at them. Usually you'd see Pierce Brosnan muck around with the equipment much to the consternation of Q, then spout a few quips. The fact that you get the exact same bits here makes the scene feel so tired. The rest the humor revolves around people getting kicked in the genitals repeatedly and English's recurring run-ins with an elderly Chinese assassin, who is disguised as a cleaning woman.
Atkinson is a talented comedian with some great facial expression and a capacity for physical comedy, but there's not much he can do with such flat material. The filmmakers want Johnny English to be a capable agent, who can hold his own against a group of martial arts experts. Yet, at the same time, he's also incredibly stupid. There's a point where the character goes from being stupid in a funny way to being stupid in an infuriating manner. Again, the script from Hamish McColl, who also wrote Mr. Bean's Holiday, can't find the right balance.
What saves Johnny English Reborn from being a total loss is the presence of two beautiful women, referring to Gillian Anderson and Rosamund Pike. Anderson's role is essentially a take-off of Judi Dench's M, a leader looking to rid the agency of outdated methods and chauvinistic attitudes. She makes for a good foil to English's outrageous antics. Pike, a former Bond girl, is a welcome presence as someone who is both smart and sexy. You only wish the character had more to do.
Unless you're a huge Rowan Atkinson fan or just want to watch him beat up old ladies, then skip Johnny English Reborn.
Rating: * (*****)
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