The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse [DVD]

If you've read other plot lines for ''Apocalypse'' you'll probably understand the basic outline of the movie. (With the Royston Vasey inhabitants realising that they are only 2-dimensional fictional characters, they come to look for creators - Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith - and try to persuade them to continue the TV series, fearing they would cease to exist otherwise.) A clever and innovative idea to begin with; the acting is superb and the animation, - especially of the Homunculus - is classic.

Rather refreshingly, the movie concentrates on the more obscure characters from the telly show. And easily the funniest creation from LoG to begin with, Geoff Tipps (or St.George of Asda, as he is heroically crowned) is also the pinnacle figure of the movie providing all of the laugh out loud moments. Shearsmith delivers his lines with his customary Northern charm and lovable churlishness. Most of the humour relies on subtlety, a lot of which I missed on the first viewing. But after watching again and again, I am pleased to say there's something new to laugh at each time. Not much in the way of ''Have you heard the one about the Mau mau'', but this is exactly why the film appeals to a select audience: there's no sign of the catchphrases and familiar jokes that perhaps the fans of the TV show were hoping for. It's not in essence a feature length League of Gentlemen movie - it's instead a movie which happens to feature a few of the characters dreamt up for the TV show.

There's a greater depth behind the humour and ideas, that sadly may have gone to waste if viewers are switching off after 30 minutes. A lot of TV-to-big screen productions can't work as they're basically stretching out a plot that would have otherwise been crammed into a half hour show. ''Apocalypse'' offers a melting pot of ideas and allows the 'Gents to showcase their wider talents as artists, as opposed to comedians. The actual comedy here lies in the basic rule of perfect delivery & utter conviction of the parts, equally balanced with that air of macabre familiar with all LoG fans. In all agreement with a lot of other reviews: No, it isn't a patch on the outstandingly brilliant TV show, but as far as films go, it's quite extraordinary in it's own right.

The film version of the successful, if niche TV series possesses a clever concept, summed-up in the title of my review. Whilst knowledge of the original TV series is certainly a sine qua non, the film itself is not just the burying of the TV series within a cinematic scope. Rather, it is an additional film with a film within a film - one of the guys on the accompanying commentary compares it to a pot noodle.

The cast includes some fine cameos by Bernard Hill, Victoria Wood, Emily Woof, David Warner, and Michael Sheen (as Jeremy Dyson), and you might also spot Simon Pegg and Peter Kay too. Using the same director and composer as the TV series, there are obvious overlaps in style and atmosphere with the TV series, and homages to the writers' favourite films come aplenty. Unfortunately, though, the clever concept becomes less funny and more ridiculous as the film develops, as it tries to deal successfully with the effects of its own cumbersome storyline. It ends in a disappointing mush. However, that being said, when watching the film I counted three outbursts of laughter from myself, twenty-five chuckles, and an uncountable number of smiles - but alas, there were no eye-watering guffaws.

The accompanying commentary from all four writers is, like that to the TV series, of mixed use, since it is difficult to know who is saying what as each tries to dominate the conversation. It was recorded prior to the film's release, so they did not then know if the film had bombed or won an Oscar. Of course, history proved it to be more like the former than the latter. In an article in The Guardian in November 2009, Jeremy Dyson is reported as saying that they were naïve: "Film is capitalism in its brutal form, and it's about how are you going to get an audience. We'd never thought like that before. ... `On the Buses' [the film version of which apparently outsold `Diamonds Are Forever'] was getting 20 million [TV] viewers. A comedy show is now doing well if it gets four or five million." If I had paid to see this film at the cinema I may have felt a little short-changed, but as a cheap DVD, it's not a bad deal, especially as it will be played again and again over the years.

Other extras on the disc include a twelve-minute `Making Of'; a six-minute visit to Hadfield in Derbyshire - `The Real Royston Vasey' (most of the film was shot in Ireland for tax reasons); a four-minute review of `A Cast of Thousands'; a twelve-minute film showing a typical day on shoot with Steve Pemberton; sixteen deleted scenes; out-takes; a gallery; and the usual trailers.

I've only recently gotten into watching THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and have to say it is one of the best, funniest and scariest comedies I have ever seen, so after finishing watching the boxed set (series 1-3 & Xmas Special) I couldn't wait to see how it all finished at the end in THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN'S APOCALYPSE. Well I sat down and watched this last night and although it wasn't as funny as the fantastic TV show, it still had me in stitches for the majority of it. It does go slightly off the plot halfway through with the medieval storyline (which does tie up at the end) but that was just as funny as the main TLOG story too. This film had me laughing, cringing and turning away in disgust (some bits are a little gory) but generally is was fairly pleased with the outcome. Well worth watching if you're a fan of the show but otherwise I can't imagine this would make much (if any) sense at all.