Johnny English Strikes Again - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Johnny English Strikes Again

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie

Johnny English is back! The man who doesn’t know fear, doesn’t know danger, and doesn’t know how to quit (mostly because he’s a bumbling buffoon) is back for a third go at the box office. It seems that Johnny English movies are few and far between, but actually one of the more entertaining films from the aging comedian. Rowan Atkinson is a rubber faced comedian god, made famous for his work with John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, and the legendary Mr. Bean persona of his (which turned slapstick into an art form). However, the man hasn’t had the greatest of luck in feature films outside of the Johnny English world (basically a British lampoon of James Bond), and it seems like very 7 to 8 years the man comes back for a new one. The first Johnny English came out in 2003 to very little fanfare, but was a rather hilarious romp for those of us who actually went out and saw in. 8 years later in 2011 they made a second outing which really didn’t set fans hairs on fires, and after ANOTHER 7 years, we finally get to see the bumbling bond knockoff get a third attempt. An attempt that is surprisingly funny and redeems itself from the mess that was 2011’s Johnny English Reborn.

It seems that the world has changed a lot since Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) retired and moved away from the world of espionage. He’s teaching at a British boarding school, while the rest of the world has gone digital. However, his skills are called upon once more when a secret hacker has hacked into the British intelligence databases and exposed every active agent in the field. This means that Britain needs someone NOT on the world’s radar to come out of retirement and save them from the digital threat. This means Johnny gets another go at the world of being a super spy, even if it means that the world may be completely terrified at the concept of Johnny English getting a gun and power once more.

Johnny’s all ready to get back into the saddle, only to find out that the world of spies has moved away from saddles, and into Ipads, health waivers, and safety signs on everything from a gun to a blow dryer. One of the biggest gags in the movie is watching Johnny roll his eyes at all of the pansy safety stuff that has been put on everything. Cars are now hybrids for gas mileage, guns are out of date, and everything requires a safety and health waiver to continue on. Stuff that an old timer like Johnny is about to have none of, and we get to watch him walk all over these little irritants with giant clown shoes.

I got a chuckle out of having Olga Kurylenko come in to play the veritable “Bond Babe” variance in the film, especially due to the fact she WAS a Bond Babe in 2008’s Quantum of Solace with Daniel Craig. She adds nothing of real substance to the film, but she fulfills the role of gorgeous Bond Babe with ease (and somehow looks more gorgeous at 39 than she did at 29), allowing Rowan Atkinson to ham it up with ease. Rowan is a virtual god at being a rubber faced comedian, and his style of wry physical humor is perfect for the outdated stereotype of the Bond like hero. He hams it up with glorious gusto and I found myself laughing at his antics more than I was expecting to. He’s a one man wrecking crew, and while a few of the slapstick antics got a bit old (like the exo skeleton debacle), he’s a fantastically funny watch and is EASILY the highlight of the film.




Rating:

Rated PG for some action violence, rude humor, language and brief nudity




Video:

Filmed on Red Epic Dragon digital cameras and then transferred to a (presumably) 2K digital intermediate for home video, Johnny English Strikes Again is a gorgeous looking bit of Blu-ray eye candy. There’s not a whole lot of color grading going on with the movie, and it leans towards a rather neutral look with strong primary colors (the greens of the English grasses are striking), and tons of fine detail across the board. You can see everything from the creases on Rowan Atkinson’s aging face, to the little nuances and lines on clothing. The CGI is lower budget (as is expected for a Johnny English film) and you can see the creases and seams in some of the real life/CGI cross overs, but it’s not wildly obvious in reality. The blacks are deep and inky and I only noticed one instance of banding in the lower light shots to really give any credence to digital artifacting in the film. Overall, this is a lovely looking Blu-ray by all accounts.




Audio:

Universal once again brings forth a gorgeously nuanced DTS:X track that really is much more powerful and immersive than I was expecting for a Johnny English movie. The vocals are always precise and clean, and the front sound stage is active with the various fisticuffs (both intentional and accidental) that Johnny seems to always find himself in the middle of. The LFE channel is deep and guttural, offering up quite a bit of low end support for the gadgets and automobiles that Johnny is blasting about in, as well as complimenting the James Bond (ish) inspired musical elements. The end explosion with the missile is the most prominent and deeply felt, but there are numerous times in the film where that mid and low bass gets to come out and play. The DTS:X parts itself are a mixture of discrete and ambient elements, allowing helicopter blades to thud in from above, or the noises of Johnny flying headlong over the audience into the water to be pinpoint precise from above the listening position.






Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director David Kerr
• The Comedy Genius of Rowan Atkinson - Fetaurette
• A Cast of Characters - Featurette
• The Johnny English Legacy - Featurette
• Virtual Reality Johnny English Style
• The Gadgets
• The Cars
• Locations and Design

Final Score: ​

As I said above, I actually like the Johnny English films. They’re a cheeky British take on lampooning the James Bond films, and Rowan Atkinson is the king of rubber faced comedy (at least since Don Knotts and Jim Carrey have faded from the limelight) to do so. Strikes Again is another romp for the accidental spy, and it’s a fun one at that. It doesn’t get too much into the slapstick, but uses just enough slapstick combined with wry British sight gags (ala Fawlty Towers) to garner a chuckle, and there’s more than enough chuckles to go around. This is not what I would call an intelligent comedy, but a fun lampoon that’s more than entertaining if you’re Rowan Atkinson fan. The audio and video are spectacular and the disc contains a shocking amount of special features for a new release (it seems that more and more new releases are going minimalist with the amount of extras), making it a recommended film by yours truly.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Jake Lacy, Emma Thompson, Kendra Mei, Alfie Kennedy, Noah Spiers
Directed by: David Kerr
Written by: William Davies
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS:X (DTS-HD MA 7.1 Core), French, Spanish DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG
Runtime: 88 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 22nd, 2019

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Check it Out

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Rowan Atkinson is a great comedian. All of his sitcoms are hilarious.

I was not able to catch the Johnny English series so will have to check them out.