Story
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is an accident-prone British intelligence agent for MI7. He’s on a retreat high in the Tibetan mountains honing his Kung Fu skills. In London, MI7 has been told by Hong Kong agent Fisher (Richard Schiff) that a group of international assassins called Vortex is planning to kill the Chinese Premier. Fisher will pass vital information only to English. Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson), the head of MI7, recalls English from his Tibetan retreat and teams him up with Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya). Tucker’s job is to keep Johnny on the straight and narrow. Kate Summer (Rosamund Pike), MI7’s behavioural psychologist, is also assigned to keep an eye on English.
English and Tucker go to Hong Kong and make contact with Fisher, who gives English one of three keys needed to unlock the secret weapon that will be used to kill the Chinese Premier. But before Fisher can hand over any more information, he’s killed.
English and Tucker must track down the remaining two keys, dodge international assassins and sort out conspiracies involving the KGB, CIA and MI7. At the same time, English is trying save the Chinese Premier’s life and prevent global chaos and disaster.
Themes
Espionage; assassination
Violence
The movie’s action violence is shown in an unrealistic slapstick way. There are several violent deaths, but there isn’t much blood and gore. For example:
Sexual references
This movie has some low-level sexual references and innuendo. For example:
- A man says, ‘I once held a White Russian in my hand. He was very lovely’. The conversation is about a cocktail, but the implication is sexual.
- Johnny English refers to a woman as having plump pillows (breasts), a beautiful face and being completely out of his league.
- Johnny English and a woman almost kiss before being interrupted by a knock at the door. As she tries to hide Johnny, the woman says, ‘Bedroom quickly’. Johnny replies, ‘Definitely’.
- After a woman gives Johnny English mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and then kisses him, Johnny says to Tucker, ‘I want to kiss you if you don’t mind’. Tucker replies, ‘Well whatever’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie has some use of substances. For example:
- A man offers another man a drink, asking, ‘What’s your poison?’ The man goes on to offer several different types of alcohol including vodka, rum and port.
- In several scenes, people holding glasses of wine.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Women wear low-cut tops in several scenes.
- A woman takes off her dress in a sensual way. She has a brief bikini underneath. Later the same bikini-clad woman and Johnny English sit in a Jacuzzi flirting mildly with each other.
- Johnny English and Kate Summer flirt with each other.
- A woman gives Johnny mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Johnny regains consciousness and says to the woman, ‘Almost there’. She gives him a long passionate kiss on the lips.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in this movie: Toshiba laptop computers and Roll Royce cars.
Coarse language
This movie contains occasional very mild coarse language and name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Johnny English Reborn is a comedy spy thriller targeting teenagers and adults. It’s a bit predictable, but will probably entertain people who enjoy spy spoof movies. Rowan Atkinson fans will probably like it too. Younger adolescent children are likely to find the slapstick comedy hilarious.
The main messages from this movie are that you should never give up or surrender, no matter how many times you fail.
You might like to talk with your children about the gender stereotyping in the movie.