Johnny English Strikes Again is an action spy film that’s a comedy and stars Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English. The movie is the sequel to Johnny English Reborn, which came out in 2011, and it is the third installment of the Johnny English series. Johnny English is an M17 agent who gets called into action when all the other undercover operatives are exposed in a cyberattack. The film was made with a budget of $25 million but grossed $159 million at the box office. It was released in the United Kingdom and the United States in late 2018.
In Johnny English Strikes Again, it is seven years after a cyber attack known as Reborn exposes the M17 field agents. Because of the attack, the agency ends up reinstating some older agents who have since become inactive, including Johnny English. English is now a geography teacher, although he is also secretly training his students in espionage. When the agency accidentally incapacitates the other retired agents, Johnny English is the only agent who can accept the mission.
When he first gets reinstated, English insists on his old sidekick and an M17 clerk named Jeremy Bough going along with him. The first thing the duo does is take their equipment to France to investigate. Included in their equipment are their explosive jelly babies and a tracker that is disguised as a sherbet fountain. They go to where the cyber attack began and discover that the Dot Calm yacht is the next target. They sneak onto the yacht but are caught by a Russian operative named Ophelia Bhuletova.
Bhuletova is also a spy, and they find out that a billionaire named Jason Volta is planning a few more cyber attacks. In the end, English, Bough, and Bhuletova work together to get rid of Volta, which they accomplish. When it is all over with and they have thwarted the next cyber attack, the trio go back to their former lives, which means English can go back to being a geography teacher. The movie ends with English seeing the headmaster about to eat one of the explosive jelly babies.
Here are some of the major characters in the movie Johnny English Strikes Again:
Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English, Esq.)
Johnny English is an ex-M17 agent who has been retired for the past seven years and enjoying a second career as a geography teacher. When a new mission comes up, he is the only agent who can take it because the rest of them have been accidentally deactivated. He and his assistant Jeremy Bough find the location where the first cyber attack originated and steal a cell phone that shows the next cyber attack victim, the Dot Calm yacht.
They run into a Russian spy named Ophelia Bhuletova, who catches them after they sneak onto the yacht to do some reconnaissance. After Bhuletova catches them, they escape off of the yacht. English and Bough discover that the Dot Calm is owned by a billionaire named Jason Volta, and they sneak into his mansion to find out how to stop the next cyber attack. They find out that Volta is behind the attack, and English, Bough, and Bhuletova all work together to stop him.
English also has a few mishaps simply because he isn’t tech-savvy, including recording evidence of Volta’s plans on Bhuletova’s iPhone but mistakenly picking up another phone to show to the Prime Minister, which is why no one believes him.
Ben Miller (Jeremy “Angus” Bough)
Jeremy Bough is an M17 agent and formerly an assistant to Johnny English. When a cyber attack is scheduled to happen soon, the two work together to find the source so that they can eliminate the threat. Bough’s wife is a lady by the name of Lydia Bough, and she is a Royal Navy officer aboard the HMS Vengeance. The duo enlists her help with their mission, and it is Bough that first discovers that Bhuletova is a spy. Once it’s determined that Volta is behind the attacks, Bough works with both English and Bhuletova to stop him.
Olga Kurylenko (Ophelia Bhuletova)
Ophelia Bhuletova is a Russian spy who catches English and Bough when they sneak onto the Dot Calm yacht, which they think is the next cyber attack target. When she discovers the two men on the yacht, she tries to kill English but is unsuccessful because he has taken a pill that makes him hyperactive. When it is discovered that the Dot Calm is owned by billionaire Jason Volta, she and the two men decide to work together because they are convinced that he is behind the attack, which turns out to be true.
Jake Lacy (Jason Volta)
Volta is a Silicon Valley tech billionaire who has developed a system that can improve data management. His yacht, the Dot Calm, is set to be the next cyber attack target, but soon the agents suspect that he may actually be behind the first attack and is preparing for another one. Because of this, English and Bough sneak into his mansion to get proof. When Bhuletova becomes convinced that Volta might be behind the attacks, she works alongside English and Bough to make sure the next one doesn’t happen.
Vicki Pepperdine (Lydia Bough)
Lydia is Jeremy Bough’s wife and a Royal Navy officer. She is aboard the HMS Vengeance and is scheduled to arrive at Garroch Castle via Loch Nevis. When English, who is not exactly tech-savvy, unintentionally places two cell phones next to one another, one of the calls is from Lydia, who calls to confirm a launch code that English has inadvertently keyed in.
English mistakenly gives her the order to attack, so Lydia launches a ballistic missile. The missile destroys the yacht and the server used by Volta. Lydia is also the one who previously warned English never to get a mobile phone too close to a submarine, which is one of the causes of the ballistic missile being launched.
Emma Thompson (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
The Prime Minister is warned that Jason Volta may be behind the cyber attacks, but she doesn’t believe Johnny English. Because of this, she proceeds with a G12 summit meeting in Scotland to solidify a work agreement with Volta, and she fires English because she believes he is lying about everything. In the end, however, she ends up forgiving English and praises him because he has prevented another dangerous cyber attack from happening.
Amit Shah (Samir)
Samir is the assistant to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Adam James (Pegasus)
Pegasus is the head of M17 and responsible for assigning the agents to their various missions. He is therefore the boss of Johnny English.
Pippa Bennett-Warner (Lesley)
Lesley is Pegasus’ secretary and assistant.
Roger Barclay (Sebastian Lynch)
When investigating the upcoming cyber attack, English and Bough consider Sebastian Lynch a serious suspect, even though he ends up being innocent.
Irena Tyshyna (Viola Lynch)
Viola Lynch is Sebastian Lynch’s wife.
Other characters in Johnny English Strikes Again include:
Matthew Beard (P)
P is an M17 weapons expert.
Gus Brown (Headmaster)
Pauline McLynn (Mrs. Trattner)
Michael Gambon (Agent 5)
Charles Dance (Agent 7)
Edward Fox (Agent 9)
Johnny English Strikes Again is the second spy film that stars both Rowan Atkinson and Edward Fox. They both appeared in the 1983 James Bond movie Never Say Never Again.