The third instalment of the Johnny English franchise started back in 2003 with Johnny English. A brilliant film. Funny, witty and good fun. In case you’ve forgotten, here is the plot for the 2003 Johnny English. A stupid secret agent is called up because the current spies can no longer be used. He fumbles his way through missions whilst doing a good job. He believes that the bad guy is a friend to the British establishment. He meets a beautiful young women. She turns out to spy working against said bad guy. Johnny English accuses the bad guy of being the bad guy in front of the British establishment and they kick him off the job. The bad guy then turns out to be the bad guy. Johnny English, through national pride captures the bad guy in an old, famous British building for the world to see, whilst fumbling along at the same time. Here is the plot for Johnny English: Strikes Again, 15 years after the original. A stupid secret agent is called up because the current spies can no longer be used. He fumbles his way through missions whilst doing a good job. He believes that the bad guy is a friend to the British establishment. He meets a beautiful young women. She turns out to spy working against said bad guy. Johnny English accuses the bad guy of being the bad guy in front of the British establishment and they kick him off the job. The bad guy then turns out to be the bad guy. Johnny English, through national pride captures the bad guy in an old, famous British building for the world to see, whilst fumbling along at the same time.
Sounds familiar right? Right. Unfortunately the whole plot is exactly the same as the original film but with just a few things changed. Different nationalities. Different scenery. On the whole it is the same. You know how The Force Awakens is the same as A New Hope. It seriously lets it down because it is so obvious that you cannot see it. The jokes as well are also very similar to stunts performed in previous Johnny English films or Rowan Atkinson related comedy sketches like Mr Bean.
The film itself is very poor. The jokes fall flat. The dance floor sequence is so cringy it started to become impossible to watch. Rowan Atkinson is a good actor but it looked like he just wanted this movie to be over so he could collect his pay cheque and go. So much of Johnny English is down to its physical humour. Atkinson is at an age now where that is become harder to do. If that is the key to a films humour, it’s probably best to stop. The VR sequence was funny however and that was it’s only positive throughout this re-hashed and unoriginal film.