There's more fun and laughter in this sequel as Rowan Atkinson returns as MI7 agent Johnny English, tasked to help stop an assassination plot against the Chinese premier. Filmed with fast-paced action and endless gags and humor, this film will send you loads of laughs and pure entertainment. The bumbling Johnny English teams up with the lesser bumbling Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya) and the charming therapist Kate Sumner (Rosamund Pike); their chemistry were quite hilarious.There's more action and edge-of-your-seat excitement in this one, from the Asian cleaning lady assassin to the mysterious key that is the center of all the chaos. Overall, a very entertaining film - tastefully done gags with a good mixture of action and suspense. Grade A

Johnny English Reborn (2011): Dir: Oliver Parker / Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya: Well made yet routine sequel to the first film, which came off as dumb as oppose to farce. This one regards secret agent Johnny English in seclusion and repairing his mental state after a failed assignment that left his subject dead. Now he is assigned to claim some sort of key as well as protect a Chinese official from assassination. While the plot is recycled with its hero off in a distant land to "find himself", the structure contains a lot of clever sight jokes that gear towards an ending that surprisingly works. Rowan Atkinson as English must prove himself and is given a few great scenes including his pursuit of a much faster villain, as well as his out witted nature of giving the key to the villain. In the end he will face the odds at a winter resort where earlier training comes into play. What doesn't work here are the cardboard supporting roles. After the success of X- Files one wonders why Gillian Anderson is reduced to the standard high official who sends English on his mission. Dominic West plays a villain who has been duplicated many times over. Rosamund Pike plays an intelligence agent who believes in English even when he is at his weakest but the role is merely a romantic prop. Daniel Kaluuya plays English's much more intelligent sidekick. The film is clever in its humour just as long as viewers can accept the fact that presenting a message is not part of the mission in a franchise that did not need reborn in the first place. Score: 5 ½ / 10

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) returns from training in Tibet after his dismissal. Pegasus (Gillian Anderson) is the new boss of MI-7. Kate Sumner (Rosamund Pike) is the behavioral psychologist. Agent One Simon Ambrose (Dominic West) is still with the service. English is paired up with junior agent Colin Tucker to go to Hong Kong. Ex-CIA agent Titus Fisher (Richard Schiff) tells him about a secret group called Vortex who are looking to assassinate the Chinese Premier.I like the character more this time around. He starts off as a buffoon who knows he's a buffoon. The Tibet section is a great start. The movie has a few laughs spoofing James Bond. English is actually funnier if he's merely competent like when he recalls his Tibetan teachings to chase after the Parkour guy. It is hilarious because they're directly making fun of Bond. It's much funnier than simply being an idiot. The chase in HK is hilarious. It's too bad that the movie doesn't get back to that level of comedy.

The combination of high-tech thrillers a la James Bond and the so English humor of Rowan Atkinson worked fine for me in the original 'Johnny English' and work even better in the 'Johnny English Reborn' sequel released eight years later, which I got to see only now. If I am to look for the perfect comedy entertainment I would go for something like this because it succeeds to be funny and anti political-correct, while keeping some logic and sending references to the original movies it is inspired from, without taking itself too much seriously at any moment.If I am to decide what are the reasons JE works for me better than other similar comedy-parody movies I would of course first of all mention Rowan Atkinson. He is himself, meaning Mr. Bean whatever the role he plays - a combination of Britishness and irreverence, a walking gaffer and catastrophes generator, and yet - a warm human being. The greatest comical character one can identify with since Stan Laurel.The second reason are the scripts of the Johnny English films. They actually have logic. Of course, it's Brit logic, it's movies logic, but if you really put the script of the two Johnny English movies near the stories of most of the James Bond films, not only you will find them similar, but English may won many of the credibility contests.This second and I hope not last installment of Johnny English has also the great advantage to bring back to screen one of my mostly beloved actresses, Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame. Did I say that was my preferred TV-series of all times. I did and now you know it all too. I hope that director Oliver Parker (or somebody else) will go on with the JE series, and that Gillian will become Atkinson/English's Q for a long time.