The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)

Such a frustrating disappointment

A different way of telling a story

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

With three series, a Christmas special and the original radio series, we were already spoilt for choice. To make any film was unnecessary, let alone make one as awful as this, where it feels like the actors are just going through the motions in order to please an audience.The concept is that the inhabitants of Royston Vasey realise that they are fictional characters and so they track down real writers Mark Gatiss, Jeremy Dyson, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (playing themselves apart from non-actor Jeremy Dyson who is played by Michael Sheen). Despite the marketing material promising Tubbs and Edward (seemingly come back from the dead), we get a brief cameo. Other iconic characters such as Papa Lazarou and Pauline also receive this treatment. It's nice to see Bernice back but again, she doesn't get a lot of screen-time.So, contrary to the poster, the three lead characters are bitter businessman Geoff (Reece Shearsmith), murderous butcher Hilary (Mark Gatiss) and malapropic pervert Herr Lipp (Steve Pemberton). On the surface, you can see why they were chosen; no one could argue that Hilary and Lipp aren't examples of surreal dark humour, even if Geoff feels like a bit of an odd inclusion in that case. But these aren't characters we want to spend very long with. They make us laugh uncomfortably but because they only briefly appear, we feel safe. To give them leading roles therefore- particularly when in one scene Lipp is looking after the children of 'Steve Pemberton'- makes us want to turn off. We don't want to see the cuddly side of Herr Lipp; it's like having the Teletubbies swear. Lipp did have some pathos as a character, as we saw in the Christmas Special, but this was because he was a pathetic slave to his desires and we had the relief of Shearsmith playing the teenager Lipp lusts for. The fact that he was a paedophile was neevr questioned so why has he suddenly converted into an angel?Whilst it is nice to see the secondary characters get their chance to 'shine',casual viewers (and I suspect most fans) want to see the iconic characters. For me, The League of Gentlemen works best when the characters are in pairs or trios, as the chemistry of the actors is what really makes the show. I understand that they didn't want to put all their eggs in one basket, as the only main sketches where all three are used are the Denton family and Pauline/Mickey/Ross, and that being able to break away from the 'sketch show' format meant that we could see inhabitants who never encountered each other being forced to 'work together'. However the choice of characters doesn't really work; Hilary works within his secret club of 'special stuff' addicts and Lipp works with his gaggle of boys. Geoff does work outside of his workmates Brian and Mike, as we see in one of the better episodes of Series 3, but he's not very likable.Unlikeability runs throughout. The personas that Shearsmith, Gatiss and Pemberton choose to play as the writers are self-centred money-grabbing writers. This only serves to alienate the audience as they watch a film with the underlying fear that the whole film really is a cynical cash-in. and without wishing to be rude, seeing the writers breaks the illusion that Royston Vasey's inhabitants are different individuals.Some of the positive reviewers have argued that the film shows the depth of TLOG and that people simply wanted their favourite characters and a load of catchphrases. That may be true of Series Three, which manages to show the humanity of the monsters in a cruelly funny way. But the 'depth' that the film gives is a false one, adding extra layers that mean nothing.In a rather odd interlude between Royston Vasey and London, we get a fictional seventeenth century comedy horror film that is the writers fictional new project. Geoff gets stuck in this film for a bit and it feels as if this section is simply stuck in to bulk out the thin and hard-to-work premise and to tick off the horror allusions that TLOG like to put in. Uncharacteristically for TLOG, it's just not funny.Perhaps the weak comedy is because the writers were under pressure to make a 'comedy film'; a diverting amusement that we see because we crave the familiarity of our favourite comedy show. However TLOG used various types of humour: surreal, dark, cruel, satire, gross-out. The film can't decide what type of humour to go for so the writers plump for the eternal crowd-pleaser: toilet humour. this does provide some humorous lines, such as the iconic 'brown fish', but this jars with the metafictional clever-cleverness and the tacked-on pathos. At times it feels as if the whole thing is just toilet humour- quite literally when a singing toilet appears at one point. Of course, this gross element was always part of the show but it was more occasional and its satirical aspect justified its presence. If you want to see a LOG film, the Christmas Special is the best example. This film feels like somebody else's version of TLOG, as if somebody who'd watched one episode was explaining the humour to their friend. As fans know, the real nature and charms of TLOG are inexplicable.

I knew nothing about the 'Royston Vasey' sketches when I watched the movie and thus, it was very confusing, messy and difficult for me to follow. However, after seeing the movie, I watched the special features which clarified a lot of things. Then, I watched the film again and this time I was able to enjoy and appreciate it to the fullest. So I would recommend that someone get a glimpse of the TV-series, 'The League of Gentlemen' before watching its movie. It's well executed with some great special effects and makeup and some hilarious cameos. Actors and writers Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith do a fine job. The humour is definitely over the top and the story is larger than life and full of comedies of errors but once you know what to expect, it's much easier to enjoy this morbidly funny ride.

"Wouldn't it be funny," thought Steve Pemberton, as the League sat down to pen a film script, "if our characters came after us, wanting to know why we wanted to kill them off?" Well, as it turns out, no, not really. In this misguided, post-modern set up (three words: Last Action Hero), bestial butcher Hilary Briss, predatory German exchange-teacher Herr Lipp and broken businessman Geoff Tipps step into the 'real world' to try to prevent the apocalypse of Roysten Vasey and sabotage the Gents' new project - an 18th century romp called The King's Evil. And ironically, this film-within-a-film, featuring a terrific cameo from Warner, is easily the best thing about this. The creators obviously had a blast, but many devotees will wonder why they've tampered with a winning formula.

Now I myself had previously seen a few episodes of the Leauge Of Gentleman which I found hilarious. When I brought the film I was not sure if I knew enough about the series to get it, boy was I wrong. This is one of the best comedy films I have seen ever and the clever acting of the Leauge makes the film. It has a very good and funny plot as well as using only a few characters at any one time helps because it doesn't make it too confusing which would have wrecked the film. Even If you have never seen The Leauge Of Gentleman get this film it will make you laugh and this is a film that can be watched more then once and is an excellent film to watch with your mates. It truly deserves it review a definite 10 out of 10.