No cinematic shot of London is complete without showcasing The Shard which towers above the ashes of Grenfell Tower like a middle finger salute from the elite few to the just about managing many.

Which is apt for the villain of debut feature director David Kerr’s Johnny English Strikes Again is the world’s most powerful internet billionaire Jason Volta (Jake Lacy) who after infiltrating MI7’s security systems and outing their secret agents has his eye on world domination by first controlling the data of all G12 member countries.

With Emma Thompson as PM under the cosh – her nightly coping strategy of two bottles of wine and a packet of sleeping pills perhaps mirroring that of Theresa Dismay – step forward old hand Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) and his sidekick Bough by name far from buff by physique Angus (Ben Miller) whose “more analogue, low-tech approach” slips under the radar of Volta and the sultry Russian spy Ophelia (Olga Kurylenko) to save the day.

Being the third instalment in the low-key series which is again written by William Davies, the demand for more face-pulling slapstick from Mr Has-Bean must surely be low. But with return on investment for the three films running at a fourfold bounty of over $450m and counting, he’s been “Reborn” and now unsurprisingly “Strikes Again”. What next? “Reincarnated”?

To be fair, it’s actually quietly amusing in a Last of the Summer Wine kind of way. The exposition is speedily set up; the plotting like the dialogue is as lean as a whippet; Atkinson is, as ever, a delight to watch being a master craftsman of silent and physical comedy; and most of the routines are a smile-inducing joy.

The standouts being a visual reality experiment gone wrong when Johnny English brings central London to a standstill; and a drug-induced dance routine which can only be described as John Trevolting!

Director: David Kerr
Writer: William Davies (screenplay by)
Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko
Peter Callaghan
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