JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN, DIR. OLIVER PARKER (2011)
CHUNGKING MANSION, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Fisher is assassinated by a killer dressed as an elderly cleaner through the narrow atrium of the Chungking Mansion. The chase scene is extracted from Johnny English Reborn(2011), directed by Oliver Parker.
The Johnny English series can be described as a humorous replica of the famous James Bond series, with Mr Bean himself replicating James Bond. As the second film of the sequel, Johnny English Reborn talks about how Johnny English recovers from his failure in the last film and move on to complete his new mission assigned by the MI7: to investigate and stop an assassination of the Chinese Premier during his talk with the Prime Minister of the UK. During the early stage of the investigation, English heads to Hong Kong with his assistant, agent Colin Tucker and search for former CIA agent Titus Fisher. When English finds and talks with Fisher, who is currently living in Chungking Mansion, Fisher is being assassinated by a killer cleaner and an important key that Fisher owned is being stolen by an accomplice of the killer. Then, an intense chase scene follows inside the Chungking Mansion between the theft and English for recovering the key.
- Clip 1: The assassination scene, extracted from Johnny English Reborn, 2011, directed by Oliver Parker. https://youtu.be/PjhYUCjFf1E
- Another camera angle showing the cleaner killer, from the perspective of agent Tucker, while she is aiming towards Fisher. Scene from Johnny English Reborn, 2011, directed by Oliver Parker.
The Chungking Mansion is presented differently from the assassination scene(Clip 1) and the chase scene(Clip 2). During the assassination, the killer stands on one side of the mansion’s inner atrium. Then, she shoots through the atrium space and kills Fisher, who is sitting in an apartment located on the opposite side of the atrium. In this scene, the atrium space of the mansion is being emphasised by capturing it using different camera angles, giving a sense of wideness and brightness in the space. However, the atrium is rather unrecognisable in reality as it is narrow and shaded. Unlike the vividness presented in the film, the actual condition of the atrium is much worse as the mansion has 60 years of age and lacks rehabilitation. For the inner space of the building, the cramped corridor of the residential levels of the mansion is highly stressed during the chase scene by using filming techniques. When English chases the theft to a dead end of the corridor, the camera pan quickly from the one end of the corridor(where the theft is standing) to the other end(where English is standing), therefore highlighting how the space corridor is limited to only one body can pass through. This reflects the reality of inadequate living space of residents living in the mansion, where subdivided apartments are everywhere in the building.
Clip 2: The chase scene, extracted from Johnny English Reborn, 2011, directed by Oliver Parker. https://youtu.be/qBrDVEvdP_Q
The theft escapes from English in a ridiculous way, through climbing the side walls while English is not aware. Scenes from Johnny English Reborn, 2011, directed by Oliver Parker.
There are both similarities and differences in how the Chungking mansion is presented in the film and how it is experienced in real life. As building spaces in films are tools to present ideas and events, the director of the film can make good use of camera angles and filming techniques to adjust the architecture of buildings in the film. In other words, directors can select the elements of the buildings that fits the ideas of the film and abandon those doesn’t, in order to give the audience an intended visual experience. Chungking mansion’s distinctive inner atrium is a perfect spot for assassination as the killer can be hidden behind walls. As a result, the director utilises this to present the scene in a typical action film style through switching between multiple camera angles to show tension. In the chasing scene, the director continues to raise the tension between English and the theft by capturing the narrow corridor of Chungking Mansion. By making use of this real-life characteristic of the building space, the scene can not only accelerates the pace of the film but also echos the crowdedness and cramped living space in Hong Kong.
— Ryan Hung 3035933907
Reference:
Hong Kong Filming Locations: Johnny English Reborn (2011) by tokyofox posted on August 8, 2017. Retrieved from https://tokyofox.net/2017/08/08/hong-kong-2017-pt-vi-johnny-english-reborn-filming-locations/
The Chase | Funny Clip | Johnny English Reborn | Mr Bean Official by Mr Bean. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua3wlssr6rw/
As all of the images you have chosen are from the film, I wonder if you have done any virtual field trip/ research to understand Chungking Mansion? You have made quite a number of analyses of camera movements with regard to the set and illustrated the spatial quality of the location. It would be great if you could pinpoint exact spots in the building and contrast them with their appearances in the film. Moreover, you are also encouraged to utilize concepts we have discussed in class to anchor your piece.