My Thoughts

The first Johnny English film was a surprise hit for me. I've never seen blackadder and I'm not very fond of Mr Bean, so Rowan Atkinson as a actor didn't really appeal to me. So to my surprise that I did enjoy the film (which you can read about here), and a even bigger surprise that this film, the sequel, is much better in every way, and, more crucially, is still very funny.

Jonny English reborn takes place 5 years after the first film. In that time, English has been de-knighted and is generally in a state of chaos, training in a accent arts to pass the time. His services are needed again, and so he comes out of his retirement and back into the field.

Like quite a lot of action movies, the main plot is someone is trying to kill the prime minister. One of the clever things about this movie however, is the true villain is not shown to the audience until near the end, so the audience are left guessing to who the killer actually is. It's a different direction than the usual trick of letting the audience know, but then the main character doesn't find out until much later in the film.

I thought the first film was an excellent film, so I thought that this film may be lacking a little, which occasionally happens with sequels. Some of the magic occasionally gets lost and it doesn't improve upon the original in some cases in the past. Well, I have some news for you, this film is a general improvement all round.

There is lots of humour in this film, I would say more than the original film. When I saw the film in the cinema, I could hear everyone laughing out loud throughout most of the film - a very good sign that it is generally funny and appeals to different age groups. (I generally don't hear people laughing that much in films) Ronan as Johnny English makes a suburb job of being "serious" and funny all at the same time, quite a feat if you ask me.

I thought the acting was also top notch too. Mr English himself comes across as a James Bond mixed with Mr Bean - a very unique mix indeed. I was initially disappointed that Bough (Johnny's Partner) played by Ben Miller from the first film wasn't in his film, as I thought those characters and actors had a great on screen chemistry. But that aside, English's new sidekick, Agent Tucker played by Daniel Kaluuya comes off as a new agent who hasn't had much experience in the field, and expects English to act like a proper agent. Some good acting, but I don't think they both work as good as in the first film. I was disappointed with the MI7's head of operations played by, I thought Pegasus played by Tim Pigott-Smith was better. (But of course, that's for you to decide)

When I first saw the trailer for the film, I feared they put all the best bits into it, but I soon found out that it was only a tip of the iceberg. There are some excellent scenes in this film (which you can read about my top 5 scenes soon) and matches those from the first film.

Also, I would also have a special note for the appearance of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. As Ronan stated when he was interviewed on Top Gear, he stated that the Aston Martin theme was getting a bit overdone in spy films, so he decided to feature the Rolls, with the original W16 Engine that was originally built for the car, but never made into production. I'd wish they used it a bit more in the film, but never-the-less the scenes it does appear is very good.

So in short - if you like... Funny / Action / Spy / James Bond / Mr Bean films, then your in for a treat. This has not lost its magic, and compliments the first film, as well as adding a fresh experience.

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