Johnny English Strikes Again Review

"Yes, alright Bough, we're going on a mission, not a honeymoon!"


Johnny English Strikes Again was directed by David Kerr and is the latest and fourth entry in the Johnny English franchise. The film stars the likes of Rowan Atkinson, Olga Kurylenko, Emma Thompson, Ben Miller, Adam James and Jake Lacy. The film follows the aftermath of a cyber attack, which reveals the identity of all of the active agents in Britain, resulting in Johnny English being recalled to duty to stop the cyber attacker before they endanger the world.

The Johnny English franchise has certainly been a franchise full of fun, laughter and strong performances by the one and only Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English). Whilst Johnny English Strikes Again is certainly at times a fun, light hearted and entertaining film, it is by no means the best entry into the franchise (we will get onto that later). One of the strongest aspects of the entire film (as with every entry) is without a doubt the main star Rowan Atkinson. Atkinson continues his great portrayal of Johnny English and whilst not necessarily adding anything new to the character, he does bring enough charm, clumsiness and comedic genius to make the character just as fun as in previous films in the Johnny English franchise.

Whilst the film is at times fun and entertaining with some good comedic moments, it is without a doubt not the best film in the entire franchise. The film uses an interesting idea of having Johnny English (an old school spy with gadgets) having to adapt to a modern era of spying, and even with its villain (a cyber attacker), the film really does have a strong theme of a common issue in modern society with an addiction of modern technology and an older generation struggling to adapt, and whilst this is interesting and adds a lot of comedy at times and digs to today's society, but this film feels a bit late to the party in terms of a theme of the younger generation addiction to technology, and doesn't have a unique spin on the theme, resulting a film that we have seen time and time again (years ago!). As with any film using comedy, some jokes will land better with people than others, and this film certainly has its moments where the jokes and comedic timing (often delivered by Atkinson) land perfectly, but for me as an audience member the jokes in this film just didn't land, and left me staring at the film emotionless and expecting a lot more. The film also plays very generically at times and offers not much in terms of surprises, with odd pacing issues spread along the way just to through you at of the film even more.

Overall Johnny English Strikes Again is certainly at times a fun light hearted film, but is nowhere near the best film in the franchise. Is it time for Johnny English to fully retire now? probably not there is a lot of potential for the character, but if there is another entry into the franchise it needs to be handled a lot better.

Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars