Review of Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) by R96Sk — 28 Feb 2021

An improvement on 'Johnny English Reborn', if still a large distance off the entertaining original.

'Johnny English Strikes Again' does feel more like the first film though, unlike the 2011 sequel. That's in positive and negative ways. The vibe of the film being one of the pluses, but one of the cons being a couple of scenes felt repeated from the original.

Rowan Atkinson (Johnny) remains the standout piece of the series, while it's good to see the previously missing Ben Miller (Bough) return. Olga Kurylenko (Ophelia) is alright, while Emma Thompson (PM) is pleasant to see.

One issue I do have with this installment is the villain, who is extremely mundane and not at all threatening, menacing or funny. The main reason why the original is so much fun, at least to me, is that you had John Malkovich absolutely perfecting the villainous role and remaining on the same level as Atkinson. In the sequels, it's basically Atkinson and that's it. Bring back Pascal Sauvage, I say.

The humour in this third release is suitably fine, despite nothing truly hilarious. There are a few good scenes, the most memorable to me being the VR one. The ending is just about passable, almost bad but not quite. Overall, I found just enough that I enjoyed about this.