*Originally written October 9th, 2018*
We live in a society that now has 3 Johnny English films. Yes. 3 of these things. I'll admit, as a child, I loved the first one, I rented the VHS pretty frequently to the point of annoyance. I remember being so excited for the second one, but it turned out to be a piece of shit. Then I rewatched the first one a couple of years ago, and that did not hold up as well as I'd hoped.
Johnny English Strikes Again is at the very least better than the previous film, yet that doesn't stop it from being a low effort spy spoof full of lazy jokes and strange moments. That said, there is still the odd moment of creativity and a couple of genuine laughs that keep this from being a total dud.
Now retired from MI7, Johnny English Strikes Back finds Johnny English coming back into the game after a cyber attack on the government leaves every known agent exposed. It's a pretty easy story for them to come up with, it feels eerily similar to Skyfall. An analogue agent in a digital world trying to adapt to the modern spy life.
It's all just very serviceable, predictable and straight-forward. I can't be too massively harsh on this, I have to remember this is a kids film and not a character study about a clearly mentally challenged man who became a secret agent. I wasn't expected Mission Impossible: Fallout in terms of action, but everything felt pretty cheap and forgettable, but like I said, there is an odd moment of inspired genius. A scene involving Johnny going bananas during a VR exercise was a real highlight, as was a surprisingly creative scene of a car chase in a learner car.
Atkinson still does slap-stick humour really well, it's exactly what you'd expect. English is remarkably stupid and I genuinely believe he's mentally challenged. I just feel I've grown out this sort of thing and it starts to get pretty grating before thankfully ending after a brief 90 minute run-time. So at the very least, it barely outstays its welcome.
Johnny English Strikes Again is exactly what you'd expect from the third entry in the British spy spoof. I don't know what else to say. It's merely fine and an easy way to kill 90 minutes as a long as you can put up with some painful and outdated jokes (Someone actually plays Temple Run in this). I just hope Johnny English 4 is a more grounded character study about what it means to be a mentally challenged secret agent.
5/10 Dans
Johnny English Strikes Again is out now in cinemas is the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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