The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse - Limited Edition sleeve design (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [DVD]

It's a film, that in some ways, works better on DVD by the fact that you can re-watch it again & again to pick up on what you missed previously. The more you watch the more you 'get' what they're doing. Its that thing of private jokes made public;it's the importance of giving the three main characters - Hilary Briss, Herr Lipp & Geoff Tipps - a narrative arc in which they grow emotionally;it's the fact that this film is very ambitious & clever & defiantly ignores taking the easy option of a spin-off film .

The Gents work has such depth, due partly to the fact that the League's three performers, Mark, Steve & Reece are superb actors (apart from being, along with Jeremy Dyson, brilliant writers as well).

The film has one of the best opening five minutes that I've seen in a film - funny, tense, & intriguing! Its sets up the premise that this is definitely not going to be one of those TV series spin offs, where over-familiar material is diluted & spread thinly across a threadbare script.

The League's screenplay is complex, intelligent & multi-layered in which reality & fiction merge & come into conflict with each other to the point where the Apocalyse threatens the end for Royston Vasey & its creators' (the League) lives are at risk...

'The Kings Evil' section (C17th century, horror influenced, assassination plots, David Warner, an homunculous, with great use of stop motion animation rather than CGI...yes!!!!) looks fantastic, has some of the funniest moments in the film & works brilliantly. Where else would you see an ornate funeral for a pig with Bernard Hill as the king weeping buckets for his beloved 'Hannah' or Peter Kay & Simon Pegg being made to use very specific parts of their anatomy as unseen servants behind a wall in Dr Pea's lair!

The scenes set in London in which Herr Lipp, Geoff Tipps & Hilary Briss have to try & confront their creators in order to survive sees emotional depth afforded to the characters - an element that has always been a central feature of the League's work (& which is why they are infinitely superior to the pretenders that have come in their wake). Steve Pemberton's performance as Herr Lipp (including Herr Lipp pretending to be Steve) is especially touching.

The film's climax sees has the the real-life League, the Royston Vasey characters & the Kings Evil characters meet in the churchyard of Royston Vasey in the midst of the town's apocalypse. There's another homunculous (a three-headed monster, with the heads of the assassination plotters - again brilliantly played by the League) which Hilary Briss confronts as he unexpectedly turns hero; numerous deaths & what appears to be a happy ending (in which the Royston Vasey characters believe they have finally achieved free-will). The only quibble with the climax is that when the town's characters appear in the graveyard to meet their creators (a film reference nod to the Munkins meeting Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz'?) you only see Pauline, Bernice & Dr Chinnery as established & recognisable Royston Vasey characters (this is a problem that the League fully acknowledge & was down to the matter of budget & time restrictions & so beyond their control).

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse succeeds on so many levels (I've read some of the previous Amazon reviewers' comments in which they moan about a lack of the most 'popular' characters - & that the film was barely set in Royston Vasey. But the League set out to make a film, not a series of television episodes strung together. As ascribed fans of the League's work, surely they must know by now that the Gents have never taken the easy option regarding their work - they've always progressed onwards & avoided repeating themselves) & is about as far away from a TV series' film spin-off as you can possibly get. Its very funny but also emotionally rewarding too as the characters learn about their limitations (as created by the League) & are moved to want to change themselves.

The film's multi-layered complexity treats its audience as intelligent in acknowledgment that they will have to put a bit of work in to get all the film's nuances.

All three acting members of the League shine in their roles - as their established Royston Vasey characters & in the newly created 'Kings Evil' plotters. Michael Sheen is excellent as Jeremy Dyson ( the non-performing member of the League) & the guest stars roles are used effectively & efficiently (in a minimum way so as not to unbalance the film).

I also have to mention Joby Talbot's film score - it is absolutely stunning, works superbly & just adds so much to the film (just like his work for the League in their television series) & Steve Bendelack's debut as a film director easily matches his excellence as the League's TV series' director.

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is like nothing they are ever done before & probably the most ambitious thing they have tackled so far. It is testament to their brilliance as writers & performers & to the film's overall quality that is succeeds so well. It is a film debut that they should be rightly proud of.

definitely a must for the LoG fans but be warned it is a little crazy and warped. the humour is as twisted as it should be but the storylines leave are a little too whacky for words at some points. You can tell they have been handed a lum sum of cash and they decided to splash out on a cartoon dragon that can kill with its touch alone.

It is stil laugh out loud funny at times, but there is not enough prescence from our favourites Tubbs & Barbara! And where is the guy with the frogs?

It's still bloody amusing though so make sure you rent it / buy it / view it at whatever cost!!!!