Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Johnny English Strikes Again

- PAT PADUA

Johnny English, the secret agent of last resort, need not mean the movie of last resort. In Johnny English Strikes Again, the charming third chapter in the surprising­ly durable spy-spoof franchise about an inept secret agent, retired MI7 operative Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), is called back into service — but only after a cyberattac­k exposes the identities of every other agent in the field.

When we first catch up with English, he has been teaching espionage to British schoolchil­dren, leading his proteges in a martini toast to an imaginary femme fatale. (“You’re looking particular­ly beautiful tonight,” the class repeats in unison.) After the prime minister (Emma Thompson) brings English back into the fold, he immediatel­y reverts to his signature bungling, in a hilarious episode involving

an exploding fountain pen.

You read that right: It’s hilarious. It’s hard to explain why the old exploding-pen gag would still be funny in 2018. But Atkinson — utilizing the rubbery face and bulging, expressive eyes that served him so well on the silly British sitcom Mr. Bean — delivers a brand of charming buffoonery that is a balm for these troubled times.

The title character reunites with his sidekick from the original 2003 film: his hapless partner and straight

man Bough (Ben Miller), who tries to wrangle something approachin­g competence out of his blundering colleague. As the agents set off to track down the bad guy (Jake Lacy), a hacker who has targeted British infrastruc­ture, they forswear smartphone­s, choosing to use purely analog — hence untraceabl­e — devices instead. The movie takes this curious fear of technology even farther, with the film’s Elon Musklike villain persuading the prime minister to store sensitive government data on his own private server.

But this cautionary

21st-century theme inevitably takes a back seat to more timeless — and shameless — slapstick, with director David Kerr (who primarily works on British TV) allowing Atkinson plenty of room to flex his comic muscle. When an insomniac English mistakes an energy pill for a sleep aid, he does what any other sleepless secret agent might do: He goes out dancing, managing to evade the murderous plotting of an enemy agent (Olga Kurylenko, of Quantum of Solace). Does it matter that the joke repeats an episode from the 2011 film Johnny English Reborn (arguably, the best of the series)?

Hardly. Atkinson’s energy is that infectious.

Like Mission: Impossible — Fallout, in which a 56-year-old Tom Cruise famously did his own stunts, Johnny English Strikes Again showcases yet another gracefully aging star of a storied spy franchise. Here, however, Atkinson may even outdo Cruise, with the comedian hurling his 63-yearold body into the service of comedy. With this latest installmen­t in what has turned out to be a surprising­ly consistent series, Johnny English’s old-fashioned pratfalls make for an irreverent raspberry in the face of evil.

 ?? Strikes Again. Johnny English ?? Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) returns because, well, James Bond is unavailabl­e and no one can figure out anything else to do in David Kerr’s spy spoof
Strikes Again. Johnny English Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) returns because, well, James Bond is unavailabl­e and no one can figure out anything else to do in David Kerr’s spy spoof

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