Johnny English Strikes Again
2018 · Directed by David Kerr
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- comedy
The story
Disaster strikes when a criminal mastermind reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain. The secret service can now rely on only one man - Johnny English. Currently teaching at a minor prep school, Johnny springs back into action to find the mysterious hacker. For this mission to succeed, he’ll need all of his skills - what few he has - as the man with yesterday’s analogue methods faces off against tomorrow’s digital technology.
What it’s like
Bright, glossy studio lighting and crisp digital sheen give this spy spoof the look of a big Sunday-evening family release: saturated London rooftops, sleek Cold War-style corridors lit like a showroom, and a castle set-piece in Bulgaria that leans into storybook stone and pennant-flag pageantry. The camera stays mostly tidy and conventional, with wide two-shots that hold still so the physical gags can land, while the score is bouncy orchestral pastiche with the occasional jaunty brass sting. Its vibe is light, silly and warmly self-aware, the kind of thing to put on for a lazy afternoon, a family night in, or something easy to half-watch on a long-haul flight. Pacing is brisk, built around escalating mishaps, mistaken identities and Rowan Atkinson's rubbery facial comedy, and the emotional register stays breezy: an out-of-step, earnest agent muddles through while the people around him get slowly more fond of him. Intensity is low: there are chases, fistfights, explosions and slapstick tumbles, all cartoonish and bloodless, with mild innuendo and no real cruelty or sustained fear. It suits people who want big, clean, silly fun without darkness, and fans of Atkinson's Mr. Bean-style physical humour.
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