*. As you know from my notes on Johnny English, I wasn’t blown away by that film. One thing I really did like, however, and which I didn’t mention in those notes, was the theme song “Man for All Seasons” sung by Robbie Williams. I was really looking forward to something as good this time out, or at least a reprise, but instead we only get an instrumental piece to go with the credits that was meant to have a “classic Bond feel” (as explained by director Oliver Parker on the commentary).
*. Aside from this disappointment, I actually enjoyed this second outing quite a bit more than the first movie. The story is more Bondish but also more down-to-earth. It seems strange typing that, but the business of John Malkovich plotting to become King of England was too ridiculous for my taste. A mole (or vole) in MI7 plotting to kill the Chinese premier worked better for me. On the commentary track Parker discusses this a bit with screenwriter Hamish McColl and says you could well ask why you’d bother coming up with a plot that made sense in a movie like this, but that he thinks the effort was worth it. I agree.
*. The Bond stuff works pretty well too. I think the weapons lab can probably be retired now as a gag reel, but that chase across the rooftops of Hong Kong is a nice send-up of the parkour in Casino Royale (2006), and the golf scene, which is borrowed from Goldfinger, plays well with the coded dialogue. What I think helps here, in this scene and the film in general, is another point Parker and McColl make in the commentary: Johnny isn’t a total moron or fool here, as he was in the first movie. He has his moments, and not all of them by accident.
*. In all of this — the coherent plot, the closer adherence to the Bond paradigm, the fact that Johnny isn’t just an imbecile — I think there’s a point worth reflecting on. Parody and satire often work better the closer they stick to their target. If they go too far it doesn’t work.
*. It’s a great cast this time too. It’s always good to see Gillian Anderson, and Dominic West is a swell heel. Also Rosamund Pike before Gone Girl and Daniel Kaluuya before Get Out. Interesting to note that Pike’s first film was a Bond movie (Die Another Day), as was Rowan Atkinson’s (Never Say Never Again).
*. Johnny English came out in 2003 and eight years is a long wait for a sequel. What I find interesting is that so much has changed since Johnny went away (in order to find himself in a monastery). Indeed he is considered to be a dinosaur when he comes back. He isn’t Austin Powers, a refugee from the 1960s, but he’s a close analogue. He wasn’t seen as a dinosaur just eight years earlier, but now that technology has taken over (MI7 is in a corporate partnership with Toshiba) he’s a fish out of water.
*. So: a better production all around, and more fun than the first film. Not a knee-slapper, but a nice turn for everyone with a handful of very good bits. For whatever reason send-ups of this material seem to never run out of steam. But I guess as long as they’re still making new Bond movies there’s an audience for new Bond parodies. This wouldn’t be the last we’d see of Mr. English.
Johnny English Reborn (2011)
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