Johnny English licensed to kill - with buffoonery

The old exploding pen gag, eh? Well it still works for Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English. Photo / Getty Images

Johnny English, the secret agent of last resort, need not mean the movie of last resort. In Johnny English Strikes Again, the charming third chapter in the surprisingly durable spy-spoof franchise about an inept secret agent, retired MI7 operative Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is called back into service after a cyber attack exposes the identities of every agent in the field.

When we catch up with English, he has been teaching espionage to British children, leading his proteges in a martini toast to an imaginary femme fatale. "You're looking particularly beautiful tonight," the class repeats in unison.

After the Prime Minister (Emma Thompson) brings English back into the fold, he reverts to his signature bungling, in a hilarious episode involving an exploding fountain pen.

You read that right: It's hilarious. It's hard to explain why the exploding pen gag would still be funny in 2018. But Atkinson - utilising the rubbery face and bulging, expressive eyes that served him so well in Mr. Bean - delivers a brand of charming buffoonery that is a balm for these troubled times.

The title character reunites with his sidekick from the original 2003 film: Bough (Ben Miller), who tries to wrangle something approaching competence out of him.

As the agents set off to track down the bad guy (Jake Lacy), a hacker who has targeted British infrastructure, they shun smartphones, choosing to use purely analog - hence untraceable - devices instead.

The movie takes this fear of technology even further, with the film's Elon Musk-like villain persuading the PM to store sensitive government data on his own private server.

But this cautionary 21st-century theme inevitably takes a back seat to more timeless - and shameless - slapstick, with director David Kerr (who primarily works on British TV) allowing Atkinson plenty of room to flex his comic muscle.

Like Mission: Impossible - Fallout, in which a 56-year-old Tom Cruise famously did his own stunts, Johnny English Strikes Again showcases yet another gracefully ageing star of a storied spy franchise.

Here, however, Atkinson may even outdo Cruise, with the comedian hurling his 63-year-old body into the service of comedy.

With this latest in a surprisingly consistent series, Johnny English's pratfalls make for an irreverent raspberry in the face of evil.