Johnny English újratöltve

One half of the plot, which even 007 would (almost) be proud of, the other half a continuation of the traditions of classic comedies from the 60s á la Louis de Funès. Thanks to the perpetually stone-faced expression of the main character, the second salvo of Johnny's escapades is infinitely enjoyable, even with the unnecessary overdose of the most trivial gag of the whole film. The highlight is then Rowan Atkinson's perfect cooking lesson, which you better practice painstakingly before you try your hand at it. (2011.11.19)

The threat of global terrorism is set aside, as Johnny English is back. The significance of the training that the agent undergoes in the prologue remains concealed until the final minutes. English’s outward expressions exhibit the same degree of dim-wittedness. He doesn’t understand and refuses to understand what is happening around him, which again and again gives rise to jokes of a similar nature. These are distinguishable by their degree of predictability (mostly a very high degree) and the extent to which their punchlines involve a man getting kicked in the crotch. Atkinson used up his best grimaces long ago and once more resorts to his Mr. Bean character (the mailbag sketch), unlike which English operates in an overly serious context in order to amuse us at least with his surreal eccentricity. (This is why the brutally stylised Austin Powers works better, as every hint of seriousness is immediately shot through with Myers’s clowning.) As in the first Johnny English, a feeble romantic subplot appears as if from a completely different film and its premature termination seems to illustrate English’s inability (impossibility) to grow up and become a man. The few flashes of more ambitious humour (the rooftop “chase”) are not sufficiently developed to the point that Johnny English Reborn could be described as an imaginative commentary on the transformations that the spy-movie genre has undergone in recent years. English comes across as less of an idiot particularly thanks to the fact that he got a bigger idiot for a partner. Both of them are analogous to film enthusiasts who look up to dauntless agents like James Bond. They are oblivious to what is clear in the film’s message – if the world is to be saved, it won’t be saved by heroes, but by chance. Learning something of that sort from a genre spectacle would almost be cause for concern if the spectacle wasn’t so dumb as to discourage paying attention to any of its subtextual messages. The wait for the next Bond movie can be shortened by more entertaining activities. Such as listening to the Queen’s Christmas messages. 50% (2011.10.12)

Johnny English's sequel could only be worse in two ways compared to the bland first installment: If Rowan Atkinson wasn't playing the lead role, or if he was, but for some mysterious reason he'd stop being funny. Fortunately, nothing like that happened and I can say that I like Johnny English Reborn better than its predecessor. There are many more memorable moments in the film, the absolute best of which is the cunning Hong Kong chase, and there are more original (the chair, the helicopter) and unprecedentedly refined jokes (the training with Tibetan monks and his gradual improvement - especially in the cable car), there's not a single fecal scene I hated the writers for, as was the case with the previous film, and thanks to the constant battles with the maniacal cleaning lady, we learn that a repeated joke can still be a joke if you know how to repeat it properly. And the biggest positive is the fact that this time Agent English is not such a blatantly clumsy idiot, but rather a capable and likeable person, who of course often has bad luck.__P.S. The scene in the credits made me cry. Laughing, of course. (2012.02.04)

A sequel that relies far too much on mimicry and the unlimited self-mockery of Atkinson, or rather his lead character. I'm not saying it's not fun, after all, who does mime and self-mockery better these days than Mr.Bean? But the charismatic Johnny English certainly didn't deserve such a dumb and illogical script after the nice first episode. A comedy on the basis of "switch off and laugh at everything", in my opinion quite unworthy of the clever cinematic humour that even much less renowned filmmakers across the Channel manage without such problems and with deaf, blind, dumb spots... 60% (2012.02.12)

This amounts to unnecessary suffering that is only functional when the last two Bond films are made fun of. Otherwise, the film offers a crystalline distillate of essential awkwardness in which Atkinson's "poker face" is completely off, you can read the villain from the opening credits, and the only pleasant surprise left is that Gillian Anderson is an utterly luxurious "MILF." :) (2011.10.25)