The League Of Gentlemen`s Apocalypse

Introduction

We are on a windswept hillside by a desolate coastline. The beam from a lighthouse is sweeping the area desperately trying to create some form of safe passage for anyone who may be coming too close to destruction. A familiar tune is heard, but with full orchestral treatment, accompanying a man, desperately running from, or trying to search for something in his lonely clifftop house. The man is Jeremy Dyson (or rather, it isn`t), the fourth, `unseen` member of the League of Gentlemen. The music is becoming more insistent, but he finds what he`s looking for.

..his mobile. The music stops suddenly when he answers the phone. This is the first of many, very, VERY bad jokes which run throughout the film, but which are so awful you have to laugh.

He is being called by the rest of the boys. He has a new idea for the characters of Royston Vasey, but this is quickly put out of his head when he is told there will no longer be any more ideas for Royston Vasey. He is upset.and so are Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou, who would like a word with him.

From this point, we are taken on a very peculiar journey from Royston Vasey, which is slowly disintegrating, as was predicted in some dogdy frescos within the church crypt, into the world of `The Creators`, via an eighteenth century film script, up the Pennines to Hadfield, and back to Royston Vasey again.

I would have liked to have more of the storyline here, but it`s a little difficult to describe.

Video

The video quailty is as fine as you would expect for such a recent production, however, some of the effects will probably make you think they could have forked out a little more money. This, though, is just part of the charm of the film, and is a great little tribute to Ray Harryhausen. In fact, there are several references to other films throughout.

Audio

Sound is clear and well balanced, with some nice noises coming out of the sub-woofer when necessary. Joby Talbot has produced a fine score for the film, but I have to mention the work of the orchestrators Chris Austin and Gary Carpenter, who have put together a very good orchestral version of the music. The orchestrators are all too often forgotten about, but it`s generally them who create the sound of a film, after the composer has scribbled a few ideas down in piano score (not that this happened here of course! :-) )

Features

The disc is well stocked with extras, including a very funny commentary by all the members of the League (sometimes a little garbled as they all try and get a word in edgeways), short documentaries on `The Real Royston Vasey` and `A Cast of Thousands`, a video diary on a day`s shooting from Steve Pemberton, and completed by some deleted scenes, out takes, a trailer and a picture gallery.

There is also an Easter Egg introduced by Simon Pegg and Peter Kay (who have small cameo roles in the film), but I honestly can`t remember what I accidentally did to get to it.

Conclusion

A League of Gentlmen film was bound to have been difficult to produce, but I think it was a stroke of genius to bring the characters into `our` world to convince their creators not to forget about them, thereby causing the destruction of Royston Vasey. They have quite wisely left the more grotesque ones back in their world, sending out only Hilary Briss, Herr Lipp and Geoff Tipps on the mission. At least these would stand out slightly less, as they found out when they arrived in Hadfield to find `League of Gentlemen` tours taking place and Herr Lipp faces several versions of himself.

When we meet the League themselves, they come across as an obnoxious bunch, but this allows us to sympathise more with their characters. Even Hilary Briss and Geoff end up rather more human than you had imagined, and Herr Lipp`s conversion from `the worst pun in the world` into a stable father-figure and family man is genuinely touching

There are some small irritants though. The scenes in the 18th century film-script `The King`s Evil` (into which Geoff writes himself) don`t have the pace of the rest of the film, but they do include a wonderfully over the top performance from David Warner as `Pea`, and some jokes which are cornier than anything Mel Brooks has thought of.

And it would have been nice to have had more appearances by those such as Edward, Tubbs and the like, but as there have been so many characters involved over the years, perhaps it was a wise move to keep things fairly simple and concentrate on just a few. This could have been a mess, but instead comes across as a highly inventive and entertaining film, although I suspect many of the subtleties (what there are of them) will be completely lost on those who have never seen the TV series.

Oh yes, if anyone offers you some fishcakes, make sure they`re not brown. Alles klar?