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Johnny English Reborn

Johnny English Reborn

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Johnny English Reborn

UK Theatrical release poster
Directed by Oliver Parker
Produced by Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Chris Clark
Screenplay by Hamish McColl
Story by William Davies
Starring Rowan Atkinson
Gillian Anderson
Rosamund Pike
Dominic West
Daniel Kaluuya
Richard Schiff
Tim McInnerny
Music by Ilan Eshkeri
Cinematography Danny Cohen
Editing by Guy Bensley
Studio StudioCanal
Relativity Media
Working Title Films
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
  • 7 October 2011 (2011-10-07) (United Kingdom)
  • 27 October 2011 (2011-10-27) (North America)
Running time 101 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom
United States
‹See Tfd› Israel
‹See Tfd› France[2]
Language English
Budget $45 million[3]
Box office $160,078,586 [4]

Johnny English Reborn is a 2011 British spy comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. The film is the sequel to Johnny English (2003), and stars Rowan Atkinson reprising his role as the title character[5] and directed by Oliver Parker. The film has a slightly darker tone than the previous film, but retains Atkinson's signature humour. Like its predecessor, it was met with mixed reviews, but has grossed a total of $160,078,586 worldwide.

Contents

  • 1 Plot
  • 2 Cast
  • 3 Car
  • 4 Production
  • 5 Release
    • 5.1 Box Office
    • 5.2 Reception
    • 5.3 Home Media
  • 6 References
  • 7 External links

Plot

Eight years after the events of the first film, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is learning martial arts in Tibet as penance for an earlier disastrous mission in Mozambique 5 years prior. His Tibetan guru and mentor, Ting Wang, is actually an MI7 sleeper agent: their employers have requested Johnny's services.

Johnny returns to MI7's London headquarters (now Toshiba British Intelligence) and is assigned by new boss "Pegasus" (Gillian Anderson) to stop a plot to assassinate the Chinese premier during scheduled talks with the Prime Minister. During the briefing, English accidentally knocks Pegasus's cat, Philby, out of a window and later sits on it. Johnny also meets with friend and fellow agent Simon Ambrose (Dominic West) (codenamed "Agent One") and MI7's resident inventor, Patch Quartermain (Tim McInnerny). He is also assigned a junior agent, Colin Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya), to accompany him.

In Hong Kong, his Chinese contact is murdered in a casino by being stabbed in the back of the neck with a drinks umbrella, but English discovers a poker chip in the man's hand with the address of ex-CIA agent Titus Fisher (Richard Schiff). Fisher reveals that he is a member of 'Vortex', a secret cabal of assassins, who also sabotaged his mission in Mozambique. Vortex's power lies in a secret assassination weapon which require three metal keys to unlock, of which Fisher has one. Fisher is killed by an assassin, (Pik-Sen Lim), dressed as a cleaner, but English manages to chase down and incapacitate the killer accomplice and recover the key. While bragging with Tucker about the success of his mission on a flight back to London, the key is stolen by a member of Vortex disguised as a steward. English is humiliated in front of the Foreign Secretary and Pegasus at the latter's estate when it is discovered that the case is empty. English proceeds to assault Pegasus's mother twice, both times mistaking her for the killer cleaner.

Kate Sumner (Rosamund Pike), MI7's behavioural psychologist engages in an "off-hours" session with English, prompting him to recall the previous events of his failed mission in Mozambique and recall the identity of the second member of Vortex as a result, Karlenko (Mark Ivanir), a Russian agent. A golf match is arranged between Karlenko and English, whose unsubtle attempts to elicit information from Karlenko cause him to order English's death. However, Karlenko is critically injured by the cleaner lady assassin. English and Tucker hijack Karlenko's private helicopter, but he succumbs to his wounds, though not before revealing that Vortex's last agent is a member of MI7.

In a meeting at MI7, Ambrose reveals that the Swiss government have agreed to lend them their fortress 'Le Bastion', allowing the talks to continue. Ambrose and English dine together, informing Ambrose that he knows a mole is present in MI7. Ambrose prepares to gun down English until English reveals he does not know who the traitor is. Tucker confronts Ambrose in the bathroom stalls at gunpoint, claiming Ambrose is the mole, as he is shown pictured with Karlenko on his computer, until English orders him to leave. Ambrose convinces Johnny into believing that Patch Quartermain (Tim McInnerny) is the traitor. English, denying that Simon is the mole, entrusts him with the key. Afterwards, Ambrose contacts Pegasus and tells her that Johnny English is the traitor.

English confronts Patch in a church, discovering that he has been framed and set up. Johnny escapes MI7's clutches on Patch's highly advanced wheelchair, equipped with retractable armrest-mounted pistols and high speed settings. Johnny goes to Kate's house and convinces her that he is not the traitor. Kate scrutinises footage of the Mozambique mission and realises that the behaviour of Shambal's bodyguard seemed abnormal and out of place. They find out that Vortex is using a drug called timoxeline barbebutenol that allows people to be controlled for a brief time before they die of heart failure. Ambrose, the only surviving member of Vortex, plans to use the drug to kill the premier in exchange for 500 million USD.

Ambrose arrives at Kate's apartment to take her to the airport. After Ambrose leaves, English takes a good look at his back through the window and he finally remembers that Ambrose was indeed in Mozambique together with the other two Vortex members. English also discovers that the killer cleaner is present in Kate's apartment. She attempts to kill him using a chainsaw built into her vacuum cleaner, but Johnny uses a garbage chute to escape.

English confronts Tucker in the latter's bedroom. Tucker wanted nothing to do with English at first (due to not trusting him and English denying Ambrose's treachery, despite the evidence), but English sincerely reminded him how their country is at stake and managed to convince Tucker to embark with him on a new mission. English and Tucker attempt to sneak into a heavily-guarded fortress in the Swiss Alps, where the premier is to be assassinated. English inadvertently activates a distress beacon, (mistaking it for a rappel device) which alerts the armed guards to their presence. English has Tucker 'pretend' to attack him, with his subordinate faking his death with a pistol. English is put into a body-bag, and the two manage to gain access to the building. Tucker attacks the armed guards escorting them while English attempts to hop over to Pegasus's office. English finds Pegasus just before she attempts to drink the spiked drink in which the drug is present and convinces her Ambrose is the traitor. English, however, drinks it instead, rendering him vulnerable to Ambrose's commands. During the manic phase of the drug, Pegasus attempts to grab English's Berreta, but is pinned to the wall by Slater (Burn Gorman). Pegasus berates Ambrose, calling him a traitor, but is knocked unconscious by English, as ordered by Ambrose. Meanwhile, Tucker is held at gunpoint by another Vortex agent named Madeline, but he turns out the lights and swaps her Walther PPK for a banana, holding her at gunpoint instead.

Ambrose orders English to kill the premier using a pistol disguised as a tube of lipstick. English attempts to resist the effects of the drug using his monastery teachings. Johnny engages in a relentless fight with himself while Tucker attempts to interrupt Ambrose's frequency used to communicate with English. English gets ready to kill the Chinese premier, before Tucker finally disrupts the frequency, replacing it with radio station which causes Johnny to dance to the music (Cameo – Word Up). Ambrose resumes the communication and again orders English to kill the Chinese premier, but accidentally revealing his goal to kill the Chinese premier in the process. English resists and shoots Ambrose instead, but he dodges and escapes.

The effects of the drug wear off and English seemingly dies of heart failure. However, Johnny is revived by Kate, who kisses him on the lips, which causes his heart rate to escalate. Johnny attempts to chase after Simon, jumping off the building and using a parachute to safely descend to the snow. English hijacks a snow-mobile and chases after the MI7 traitor. Eventually, Johnny catches up to Simon, who is using a gondola lift. The two fight, with English using his teachings to endure several kicks to the groin. Johnny manages to eventually obtain Simon's pistol, yet falls off the car. Ambrose tries to shoot English, which culminates with English pulling out his supposedly bulletproof umbrella, but which actually shoots a rocket at the cable-car and Simon Ambrose is killed in the following explosions. Johnny then realises that it was the T2. As the remains of the gondola lift fall down English then rests in peace. Tucker and Kate watch down in amazement.

English is knighted, but, during the ceremony, he finds out that the Queen is the killer cleaner in disguise, and she tries to kill him yet again. He chases after her and violently hits her on the head with a tray, only to find out in utter horror, when the guards bring the real killer inside, that he has attacked the real Queen.[5][6][7][8]

In the post-credits scene, which is influenced from the barber scene in The Great Dictator, English is seen making a takeaway for Kate Sumner to the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Cast

  • Rowan Atkinson as MI7 Agent Sir Johnny English and the main protagonist of the movie.
  • Dominic West as Simon Ambrose, a high-ranking MI7 field agent and the main antagonist of the movie.
  • Rosamund Pike as Kate Sumner, MI7's behavioural psychologist and English's love interest
  • Gillian Anderson as MI7 Head Pamela Thornton, codenamed as Pegasus, the new boss at MI7.
  • Daniel Kaluuya as Agent Colin Tucker, English's youthful sidekick and the logical thinker of the two.
  • Richard Schiff as Titus Fisher, an ex-CIA agent who turned renegade and is the first member of Vortex. It is later discovered that Fisher was the CIA agent tasked with the disposal of the mind control drug.
  • Tim McInnerny as Patch Quartermain, MI7 agent and inventor.
  • Mark Ivanir as Artem Karlenko (alias Sergei Pudovkin), a Russian former double agent who was recruited by MI7 in Moscow, having been under the employ of the KGB. After Karlenko came over to England, he used the cover identity of Sergei Pudovkin, a man of immense wealth and a member of an exclusive golf club.
  • Burn Gorman as Slater, a corrupt MI7 agent and Ambrose's accomplice
  • Joséphine Baume as Madeleine, Ambrose's henchwoman.
  • Pik-Sen Lim as the Killer Cleaner
  • Togo Igawa as Ting Wang, a Tibetan guru and English's mentor, as well as an MI7 sleeper agent
  • Stephen Campbell Moore as British Prime Minister

Car

Johnny English used a Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe with an experimental 9.0 litre V16. Only three or four of these engines exist because Rolls Royce thought about making these engines into production, but dumped the idea. The car is one of a kind. [1]

Production

Filming for the sequel in London in September 2010

Universal Pictures first announced that they were producing a sequel to Johnny English on 8 April 2010, seven years following the first film.[9]

Filming began on 11 September 2010 in Central London at Cannon Street, with further production scheduled for the week beginning 13 September 2010 at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire and later in Hawley Woods in Hampshire, Macau and Hong Kong.[10][11] Filming took place on The Mall, London in Central London on 25 September 2010.

The Johnny English Theme from the original film is quoted four times in the score.

Release

Box Office

Johnny English: Reborn opened to an estimated $3,833,300 in its first weekend in US and Canada. In UK it grossed $7,727,025, $2,628,344 in Australia and $3,391,190 in Germany. After five weeks in release, it grossed $8,305,970 in US and Canada and $151,772,616 elsewhere bringing to a total of $159,270,879.[12]

Reception

Much like its predecessor, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 38% of 78 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.7 out of 10. The website's consensus is "Arguably a marginal improvement on its mostly-forgotten predecessor, Johnny English Reborn nonetheless remains mired in broad, tired spy spoofing that wastes Rowan Atkinson's once considerable comedic talent".[13] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 46 based on 20 reviews.[14] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B" on an A+ to F scale.[15]

On the Australian television programme At the Movies, Margaret Pomeranz rated the film 3 stars and David Stratton rated the film 2 stars (the highest being 5 stars).[16] Indian film critic Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India gave the film a positive review praising Atkinson's characteristic flair for comedy once again, giving it a 4 star rating out of 5.[17]

Home Media

Johnny English Reborn was released on DVD and Blu-ray combo pack on 14 February 2012 in the UK, and on 28 February 2012 in North America.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Johnny English Reborn (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 1 September 2011. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 1 September 2011. 
  2. ^
  3. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (20 October 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Paranormal Activity 3' to frighten rivals". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 20 October 2011. 
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo. "Johnny English Reborn (2011)". class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 
  5. ^ a b Germain Lussier (13 September 2010). "Gillian Anderson, Dominic West and Join Rowan Atkinson in ‘Johnny English Reborn’". /Film. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 13 September 2010. 
  6. ^ Peter Sciretta (8 April 2011). "‘Johnny English Reborn’ Trailer". /Film. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 11 April 2011. 
  7. ^ Working Title Films Staff (23 January 2011). "Johnny English Reborn Q&A with writer Hamish McColl". Working Title Films. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
  8. ^
  9. ^ Tatiana Siegel (8 April 2010). "Universal signs up for more English". Variety. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 7 April 2010. 
  10. ^ Stuart Kemp (13 September 2010). "Cast added to 'Johnny English Reborn'". The Hollywood Reporter. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 13 September 2010. [dead link]
  11. ^ Working Title Films Staff (12 October 2010). "Johnny English Reborn enters principal photography". Working Title Films. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
  12. ^
  13. ^ "Johnny English Reborn (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 25 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "Johnny English Reborn Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 
  15. ^ McClintock, Pamela (21 October 2011). "Box Office Report: 'Paranormal Activity 3' on Course for Jaw-Dropping $45 Mil to $50 Mil Weekend". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 22 October 2011. 
  16. ^ Pomeranz, Margaret & Stratton, David. "Johnny English Reborn Review". At The Movies TV Show and Website. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 24 January 2012. 
  17. ^ "Johnny English Reborn – Nikhat Kazmi". The Times of India. class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved 1 October 2011. 
  18. ^

External links

  • Official website
  • Johnny English Reborn at the Internet Movie Database
  • Johnny English Reborn at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Johnny English Reborn at the British Comedy Guide
  • Working Title Films