Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

The final Hong Kong based scenes of this film were shot within the New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter in West Kowloon. The old one was, of course, reclaimed entirely for the purposes of creating West Kowloon itself. The boat chase that started at Hoi Fai Road Garden ends up with the thief (Williams Belle) taking a dip before finally confronting his pursuer for some fisticuffs. You can see several Kowloon landmarks in the background of the various shots.

However, if you are as sad as I am then you may have spotted something wrong with the second picture. For some reason the film has been flipped and actually the background should look like this. Weird.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Hoi Fai Road Garden, Tai Kok Tsui

During the ensuing chase, English commandeers a private yacht along the waterfront at Hoi Fai Road Garden. The garden is part of the small promenade that that lines to north waterfront of the New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter in Tai Kok Tsui.

The cluster of buildings behind Atkinson's head in the lower picture is the Park Avenue development in Mongkok and at the far right you can just make out the arch of...erm...The Arch!

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Chungking Mansion, Tsim Sha Tsui

The action moves back over to Hong Kong for our next scene as English is following up a lead from the casino. The lead takes him to a shabby hotel - the Kowloon Paradise Hotel - that appears to be located somewhere in Chungking Mansion.

The end of the scene involves a chase that takes us up to the roof of the building where English is after a rather nimble thief portrayed by the parkour expert, Williams Belle.

iSquare in the background 

An impressive leap from block to block performed by Belle.

Most of the action appears to have been filmed on the roof of Blocks B & C but for the last picture, Williams Belle had already jumped the gap between Block C and E and that last view is looking from Block E out across the harbour. Belle's character actually utilises some scaffolding to escape and I do remember that Chungking Mansion was completely covered in the stuff at around that time whilst it was undergoing some external renovation.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Grand Lisboa, Macau

The action briefly moves over to Macau as the two spies head off to meet their contact at the truly, TRULY tacky Grand Lisboa casino. But before we go there we also catch a quick glimpse of the original Lisboa across the road. Here it is below looking colourful and relatively subdued compared to the monstrosity that sits across the road from it.

And here is the monstrosity just mentioned. One of the true great eyesores of the Macau skyline (at least all the other tacky resort casinos have been restricted to the Cotai Strip) that I would happily see demolished.

There looks to have also been some interior filming as well, a quick google reveals that the next shot (with the tasteful gold wall) is indeed inside the building, and I assume the second picture below is as well, however, I'm having problems finding anything online to match, so it could easily be a mock up back in a studio.

Real or not?

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Nga Tsin Long Road, Kowloon City

Back to the modern day for the next few posts as we take a quick look at the few locations that were filmed for Johnny English Reborn. This is another film that I had no idea about until it was released - it seems unless you know someone related to production it's very hard to find out when companies are here doing their stuff.

Anyway, for the introduction shot to HK we are treated to some old Kai Tak approach footage as a plane zooms in over what I believe to be Nga Tsin Long Road in Kowloon City. I guess that the old airport is still an appealing sight for film-goers rather than the relatively mundane approach into Chek Lap Kok. If I'm honest, it still fascinates me even now nearly 20 years after its closure.