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League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (The)
R2 - United Kingdom - Fabulous Films Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (26th December 2016). |
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The Film
 The film opens with Jeremy Dyson (Michael Sheen) speaking to the other writer's of 'The League of Gentlemen' on the telephone telling them that he wants to write another series of the residents of Royston Vasey (the fictional town where The League of Gentlemen is set). The other three writers of the series shoot down his suggestions saying that they do not want to write another series wishing, instead, to write different things. Dyson hangs up the phone but is then confronted in his home by characters from the series. Fleeing the characters Dyson runs outside and ends up falling off a cliff. In Royston Vasey the vicar of the local church, Beatrice Woodall (Reece Shearsmith) gathers fellow town folk Pauline Campbell-Jones (Steve Pemberton) and vet Mr Chinnery (Mark Gatiss) to show them a series of paintings on the walls of the basement of the church. The paintings suggest a series of events, all of which have come to pass recently, with the final outcome being an apocalypse being rained down on the town of Royston Vasey, finally destroying it. Woodall explains to the other two that the only option to avoid the town, and all of it's residents being destroyed, is to send a party of residents through a door which will take them into the 'real' world where the writers of the series live. It is then hoped that the characters of the town can convince the writers to continue writing the series and disaster be be avoided for the residents of Royston Vasey. Before the vicar and the other two members of the group can use the door butcher (and serial killer/cannibal) Hillary Briss (Mark Gatis) use the door along with Herr Lip (Steve Pemberton) and Geoff (Reece Shearsmith). Briss is aware of the prophecy and decides that he, along with the other two, will try and convince the writers to continue the series. Once in the real World Briss, Lip and Geoff track down the writers Pemberton, Gatis and Shearsmith to their office. The three Royston Vasey characters manage to set off the alarm to the office and when it is evacuated they plan on stealing the computer where the writers are writing a new, non Royston Vasey, script. Whilst in the act of doing this they are interrupted by Steve Pemberton. Geoff manages to knock Pemberton out and Herr Lip now takes his place whilst Geoff and Briss kidnap Pemberton in the hope that they will convince Pemberton to write new material for them. Back at the hotel where Geoff and Briss are holed up with their captive Pemberton (The Overlooked Hotel). Geoff and Briss start to read the new script that Pemberton and the other writers are working on on the stolen computer but whilst they do so Pemberton manages to escape. Briss chases after Pemberton ordering Geoff to delete the script. Geoff, however, is reading and enjoying the script, set in the times of King William III (Bernard Hill) and Queen Mary II (Victoria Wood), and is enjoying it. He enjoys it so much that he writes himself into the script (making sure that he adds the line, twice, that Geoff has a big cock). Once into the new, fictional film (The King's Evil) Geoff manages to thwart and attempt on the King's life (because he has read the script) by three new characters (all played by Pemberton, Shearsmith and Gatis) and Doctor Pea (David Warner). Geoff is then himself abducted by Doctor Pea and is forced to tell him how he knew about the plan to assassinate the King. Geoff tells them that they are in fact characters, like him, in a script and that the only way to stop them from not existing anymore is to convince the writers to keep writing about them. Meanwhile, back in the real world, Briss contacts Shearsmith and Gatis and offers them the chance to get their friend and fellow writer, Pemberton, back but there is a catch... The above may sound very convoluted and if a viewer of this film has no knowledge of the television series of The League of Gentlemen then it will be. Thankfully your humble reviewer is a huge fan of the original BBC series so suffered no such confusion. What is always a concern when a television series is enlarged into a feature length film is that it will lose something that made it so special in the first place. Whilst the TV series concentrated on small, three or four minute sketches, all involving different characters (but played by the same actors, as you can tell from the film) which together form a larger storyline the film must have a more formulaic plot. This is partly true of The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse but the genius of the idea of adding a second metafictional film (The King's Evil) within a film manages to keep the whole idea fresh. What was also a concern from this reviewer was how the characters would evolve from a small part in a small sketch to being on the screen for a much longer time meaning the character would have to develop. No more is this true than for the characters of Herr Lip and Geoff. In the television series Herr Lip is a homosexual German man and nearly all the laughs the character garners are based on his mispronunciation of the English language which nearly always sounds rude and filthy. Whilst this works in a very short sketch how would it translate over more than ninety minutes. Thankfully the character does grow in the film and very naturally whilst still being very amusing. Fans of the television series will enjoy this immensely I suspect whilst newcomers may well be completely dumbfounded at many of there references although, having said that, there is still plenty to laugh at and enjoy assuming the viewer likes his or her humour at a rather smutty schoolchild level (I was still giggling over 'the brown fish' many minutes later and even more so when fish-cakes were mentioned).
Video
The DVD from Fabulous Films presents the film in it's original anamorphic cinema aspect ratio of 1.85:1 The picture quality is very good with no blemishes or damage whatsoever. Colours are vibrant and bright and the picture is so good much of the mistakes left in the film (and mentioned in the commentary) are clearly visible.
Audio
The soundtrack option on the disc is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 option. This is quite aggressive at times with the rear speakers especially being loud, so much so that I times I missed sections of dialogue. Perhaps it's just my set up but I had to go into the settings of my amplifier and turn the rear speakers down a touch. I've had these settings for many years and never had this issue before. However, this is not a complaint as such as it's nice to see (hear?) that effort has gone into the audio quality of the disc as well as the picture quality. English hard of hearing subtitles are also available.
Extras
This DVD is a direct port of the Universal DVD that marked the film's debut on this format so the extras that follow were also on that earlier DVD. Nothing new is added. Commentary - The commentary with Pemberton, Gatis, Dyson, and Shearsmith was recorded before the film had been released and shortly after completion of the movie. From that respect I would say that the writers were a little bit weary of their creation but still manage to record a witty and insightful track. Lots and lots of interesting snippets are revealed and it's an enjoyable commentary track. The Making of The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (12.14) - The four writers of the film discuss the genesis behind it, location shooting whilst we can enjoy some behind the scenes footage. The Real Royston Vasey (5.47) - The writers look at and discuss the town of Royston Vasey (which is a real town called Hadfield in Derbyshire) and what drew them to the location and includes the thoughts of some of the local people. A Cast of Thousands (4.05) - The cast talk about the trials and tribulations about playing nearly all the parts of the film. A Gentlemen's Diary by Steve Pemberton (12.32) - Steve keeps a video diary of one day's shooting which include him playing three different parts. Deleted Scenes (16.29) - Rather than actually deleted scenes the majority of what is found here is longer cuts of existing scenes. Outtakes (9.34) - A serious of fluffed lines, actors breaking up with laughter and broken props make up the majority of this extra. Gallery (8.19) - A slideshow of behind the scenes and props pictures. Trailers - Official Teaser Trailer (0.41) (rated L for local) and Theatrical Trailer (1.18) The two Easter Eggs that were present on the Universal disc are both also present here. The first is a behind the scenes interview with Simon Pegg and Peter Kaye (4.38) and is available by selecting Title 5 and the second is a deleted scene (2.13) featuring Briss and Papa Lazarou and is available by selecting Title 9.
Overall
Fans of the television series The League of Gentlemen should love this, I know I did. It's funny, crude and yet has some real moments of pathos and is pretty darn clever too. Those that have never seen the TV series may be somewhat confused but I still believe there is plenty to keep the uninitiated amused too. Good film, good quality video and audio and plenty of extras to keep you busy.
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