The Reborning of JE

I have vague memories of the original. Possibly images from the trailer, although I'm sure I did see the movie. I recall Johnny English bumbling around the halls of MI6 (...I mean MI7!), bumbling his way through some adventure, and bumbling his way through being the hero. And I don't recall being impressed by it. Because we really need another James Bond parody... not, as the kids say these days. The sequel, on the other hand... I do remember, because I've just watched it.

In this movie, Johnny English bumbles around more. One thing I like about this series is that it treats the matters seriously. The comedy is due to mishaps, and accidentally stupid situations. They don't go out of their way to have funny quips or spend ten minutes setting up nothing but slapstick... actually, I lie. They spend far more than ten minutes on nothing but slapstick, and the mistaken identity situations are just too many and too stupid, but it fits the film and doesn't get in the way of the serious air with comedic overtones. I haven't mentioned the plot yet, but it's the basic 'someone important is going to die, and only Johnny English can stand in the way' plot that is overly common, so nothing really else to say about it.

The movie makes a few points of Johnny English as older, and Rowan Atkinson is certainly looking it. There are few scenes which take advantage of his 'rubber face/body' comedy, possibly because he isn't as rubber any more, and as such some of his real comedy chops aren't seen. Gillian Anderson is acting 'terribly British', and Rosamund Pike is really odd as the love interest (for Rowan? now there's an age difference!). And, hey, look out for Burn Gorman, looking less dead and less burnt.

While not that original in plot or humour, it is amusing and entertaining enough. Worth more than the 6.2 it has on IMDB anyway.

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