JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN
Director : Oliver Parker
Year : 2011
Genre : Comedy
Rating : **
As a fan of both Rowan Atkinson and the original 2003 comedy 'Johnny English', I was looking forward to seeing it's long awaited and anticipated sequel 'Johnny English Reborn'. Despite an unimpressive trailer and a long, drawn out advertising campaign (usually the sign of a distribution company compensating for something), the movie seemed to exhibit the same slapstick, knock about comedy which made the original film so enjoyable. With a star studded cast, a renowned director of popular family films and one of the greatest physical comedians in a leading role, 'Johnny English Reborn' had the ingredients to be a worthy sequel to one of the most successful British comedies of the 2000's. However, the movie does exactly what every other sequel to a popular movie does; repeats the most popular jokes from it's original, overdoes the special effects and overuses the central character's raison d'etre. It's not so much 'Johnny English Reborn' as 'Johnny English Redone'. What is left is an empty, hollow husk of a movie which does nothing to improve on the original and was clearly made just for profit. With zero laughs, zero action and zero interest generated, 'Johnny English Reborn' is a waste of 40 million dollars, a waste of a great comedians' talent and a waste of an hour and a half of my life.
'Johnny English Reborn' continues the story of the calamity-prone MI7 agent Sir Johnny English, who after a failed mission in Mozambique is stripped of his knighthood and in embarassment, flees to the mountains of Tibet to seek solitude. However, it is not long before he is called back by the service to London to uncover the truths about a mysterious group of assassins called Vortex. As the plot develops it becomes clear that Vortex intends to kill the Chinese premier during talks with the British Prime Minister and it is up to the notoriously hap-hazard secret agent to stop them before they assassinate a world leader and cause global chaos.
Director Oliver Parker is probably best known for his hugely popular 'St. Trinians' movies, which while not my cup of tea, did a good job of reaching out to their target audience of young girls with witty humour and funny sight gags. With a reputation of being able to reach a movies target demographic with ease, Parker was chosen to direct the eagerly awaited 'Johnny English Reborn'. He had big shoes to fill; the original film was a well directed comedy with a good strong cast and plenty of laughter. Directed by Peter Howitt, who had a big hit with 1998's 'Sliding Doors', the movie balanced the physical, slapstick humour with witty dialogue and interesting characters and while not greeted with entirely positive reviews, 'Johnny English' made 160 million dollars worldwide, so a sequel was almost inevitable. In 2010, Universal Pictures announced that 'Johnny English Reborn' had been greenlit. Unfortunately, money spoke louder than words and as a result, all of the wit and humour that made the original movie so entertaining was scrapped. Bursts of clever physical comedy have been replaced with long drawn out scenes of cliched and tired pratfalls, double takes and gurning from Atkinson. Overblown and poorly created special effects are utlilised to a mind numbing degree and the main plot of the attempted murder of a world leader is clearly ripped off from the much funnier 'Zoolander'.
The cast is just as star studded as the original, but only Rowan Atkinson returns in the sequel. Atkinson was the perfect choice to play the hap hazard Johnny English. To me, he is still one of the best physical comedians around his unique style of Chaplin-esque comedy suited the character very well. From 'Not The Nine O' Clock News' to 'Blackadder', 'Mr Bean' to his brilliantly hilarious stand up shows, Atkinson is able to generate huge laughter with a simple flailing of his limbs or pulling a funny expression with his amazingly rubber face. However, 'Johnny English Reborn' fails to utilise his talents as a physical performer completely and subsequently the movie is painfully unfunny. The physical jokes are too obvious and both my wife and I found ourselves guessing the outcomes of English's calamitous behaviour before the 'joke' had even been performed. When the audience is second guessing the comedy before the punchline is delivered is surely not a good sign. There are only so many times you can watch English jump on the back an unnamed assailant thinking it to be an assassin, only for it to be an old lady or someones mother before it becomes knuckle chewingly tiresome. Another low point is the gratuitous, vulgar comedy which the movie seemed to prefer. From shots of English pulling heavy weights by his penis, to a long scene set at a urinal, 'Johnny English Reborn' has some of the crassest and infantile jokes that I have seen in recent movie history.
The rest of the cast includes Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Tim McInnery and Rosamund Pike but only West gives a 'memorable' performance. Anderson might as well not have been in the movie as the part she is given is unbelievably small for an actress of her calibre and Rosamund Pike is wasted as English's love interest. The original's cast was all superb, especially John Malkovich as the throne usurping Frenchman Pascal Sauvage and Ben Miller as English's equally brainless sidekick Bough. 'Johnny English Reborn' lacks an interesting villain so the main plot and motivation of the movie is lost almost instantly.
'Johnny English Reborn' does contain a large number of visually impressive and well choreographed set pieces, which while the main highlights of the movie are only moderately attention diverting due the lack of action and comedy as well as being unconventionally long (some lasting for over 10 minutes, way too long for a silly spoof movie). Chase scenes reminscent of 2006's 'Casino Royale' and a helicopter landing on the back of an ambulance are while technically proficient, they add nothing to the overall plot or narrative of the film and just seem like window dressing to cover up the lack of development in both story and characters. Adding to this an overblown use of needless CGI and a completely forgettable soundtrack, 'Johnny English Reborn' is a good looking mess of a film. If you enjoyed the original, I would avoid it's sequel, it has none of the comedic bravado or charm that made it's predecessor so entertaining.
Both my wife and I are fans of 'Johnny English' and we couldn't wait to see what a new director could do with this character. However, the bitter disappointment kicked in within 10 minutes of the start of the film and by the end, we were left feeling robbed and let down. My wife asked me to turn off the film 20 minutes in because it was boring her, almost sending her to sleep. However, not being one to turn off a movie once it's started, I said we should stick to the end and give it a chance. Hey, it might get better!
Looking back, I really wish I had taken my wife's advice.
You will like this if you liked : The Police Academy Series
The rest of the cast includes Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Tim McInnery and Rosamund Pike but only West gives a 'memorable' performance. Anderson might as well not have been in the movie as the part she is given is unbelievably small for an actress of her calibre and Rosamund Pike is wasted as English's love interest. The original's cast was all superb, especially John Malkovich as the throne usurping Frenchman Pascal Sauvage and Ben Miller as English's equally brainless sidekick Bough. 'Johnny English Reborn' lacks an interesting villain so the main plot and motivation of the movie is lost almost instantly.
'Johnny English Reborn' does contain a large number of visually impressive and well choreographed set pieces, which while the main highlights of the movie are only moderately attention diverting due the lack of action and comedy as well as being unconventionally long (some lasting for over 10 minutes, way too long for a silly spoof movie). Chase scenes reminscent of 2006's 'Casino Royale' and a helicopter landing on the back of an ambulance are while technically proficient, they add nothing to the overall plot or narrative of the film and just seem like window dressing to cover up the lack of development in both story and characters. Adding to this an overblown use of needless CGI and a completely forgettable soundtrack, 'Johnny English Reborn' is a good looking mess of a film. If you enjoyed the original, I would avoid it's sequel, it has none of the comedic bravado or charm that made it's predecessor so entertaining.
Both my wife and I are fans of 'Johnny English' and we couldn't wait to see what a new director could do with this character. However, the bitter disappointment kicked in within 10 minutes of the start of the film and by the end, we were left feeling robbed and let down. My wife asked me to turn off the film 20 minutes in because it was boring her, almost sending her to sleep. However, not being one to turn off a movie once it's started, I said we should stick to the end and give it a chance. Hey, it might get better!
Looking back, I really wish I had taken my wife's advice.
You will like this if you liked : The Police Academy Series
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