League Of Gentlemen Apocalypse

monomaniac · 07-06-2005 12:52pm #1

Going to see this tonight Dave. I've re-watched all 3 series and the Xmas special in preparation - I've forgotten how dark, disturbing and hilarious this show is.

Anyone seen it yet? Was hoping to hear some (spoiler-free of course) opinions before I go.

Will post my thoughts tomorrow.

monkeyfudge · 07-06-2005 1:06pm

I actually only finally got into the League of Gentlemen last week... I picked up the 3 Season & Christmas Special boxset.

I absolutely loved it the series. I was in the cinema first thing after work on Friday evening to see the film.

The film probably isn't as good as it could have been, so try not to get your expectations up too high. Tubbs, Edward and Papa Lazarou don't feature nearly enough, and there alot of new characters that you really don't have time to care too much for. It also skips over alot of the plot developments that took place in Season 3.

But overall I really enjoyed it, as I'm a big fan of Herr Lipp and he gets alot of great scenes. Geoff also features prominently, and he's pretty great too. But I can't help feeling that it might have worked better if they'd stuck with a more conventinal storyline.

I did talk to a long time League of Gentleman fan on Saturday and he hated the film, he also wasn't a fan of series 3.

Oh, yes.. and David Warner is excellent as the villian of the piece.

Overall I'd give it twelvety out of ten.

nadir · 07-06-2005 8:49pm

Yeah, the series owned, I will have to go see this ok.

damien · 07-06-2005 8:51pm

It was shíte. Big fan of the series too. Hugely disappointed.

TheAlmightyArse · 07-06-2005 9:43pm

It's certainly a departure from the series, and I can see how some fans would be disappointed by how few (and which) of the regular characters get leading roles. Personally though, I loved it. Their love of Hammer horror films really shines through, but it's wrapped up in something genuinely engaging and original. Not especially dark, but very funny.

And as has been said David Warner is excellent. Almost steals the show from the Gents, actually.

monomaniac · 09-06-2005 12:11pm

Only getting round to posting my thoughts now - glad I didn't read your post Monkeyfudge before I saw the film - I read it when I got home that night and it summarised exactly how I felt.

Glad to see since then that other people feel the movie was a let down.

I think people who aren't huge LoG fans and haven't seen the show in a while would really enjoy the film. Don't gte me wrong - I found it very funny and entertaining but because I just finished re-watching all 3 series and the xmas special the night before my expectations were foolishly high.

I think this movie may have worked better as a 2nd (or final) LoG film. Why not give us a film based in Royston Vasey - an extended version of an episode. This way audiences who haven't seen the show can become more familiar with the characters.

Although I knew who the focus of the films would be on, the lack of continuity from season 3 was surprising.

The Vicar in the Elephant?
Pauline and Mickey's wedding?
Geoff's plastic surgery?

David Warner was excellent but I found the whole 17th century story to be a waste of time. When it first began it was almost as if they had forgotten the main story they were trying to tell.
Why not have Geoff find a script for a daft aborted royston vasey story - maybe killing them all off?? Would've worked much better IMO!!!

Herr Lipp was brilliant - without him I woudn't even have had the motivation to write this post. The one-liners are priceless and I woudn't dare spoil any of them.
The story was original and very clever - hats off to the writers for this. i just felt it wasn't excecuted as well as it could've been done.

It was also great to hear the irish accents (filmed in Wicklow if you didn't know).

So is this the end of the LoG franchise? Please let it remain a cult classic show(ref Faulty Towers, The Office)!

steveland? · 09-06-2005 12:19pm

monkeyfudge wrote:

But overall I really enjoyed it, as I'm a big fan of Herr Lipp

You're not like all the other queer boys

I can't wait to see the movie but tbh I don't hold out much hope for it... Series 3 wasn't the mae west... still funny but meh... the series kinda needs it's laughter track (never thought I'd be saying that...)

monkeyfudge · 09-06-2005 4:57pm

steveland? wrote:

You're not like all the other queer boys

If you don’t understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth. Alles klar?

It was bit odd hearing the Irish accents alright, and seeing the Irish locations. What about those two child actors used in the scene with Herr Lip towards the end of the film though? They were amazingly bad...

monomaniac · 09-06-2005 10:45pm

Oh my... I've come over a little queer!!

I couldn't resist it!

Fafnyr · 10-06-2005 4:07pm

I was fairly disappointed with the film. I got the boxset to hype myself up but it just let me down.
I agree with monomaniac about the 17th century characters. They were funny for a while but then got crap.
And not enough Papa Lazarou :mad:

Rhyme · 11-06-2005 1:38pm

Saw the film this morning... it was alright i guess, i didnt expect much so it wasnt disappointing at all. Herr Lips lines were magic....

...also, in the very last shot of the film, does that look like DCU to anybody? The main entrance by the Nursning Building

sleepwalker · 12-06-2005 1:25pm

never watched a single episode of this when it was on tv but after reading the big article in Empire thought it was time to investigate, just bought the complete collections ( 3 series and xmas special ) from HMV. Show is absolutley brilliant works as comedy, horror and drama all wrapped into one. Im halway through series two at the moment so once im finished ill have to go check out the film.

go read the article in empire if you want to understand why they went off the wall for the film

TerrorFirmer · 12-06-2005 9:37pm

Herr Lip saved this movie.

Was disappointing overall compared to the series and considering all the potential it had, but overall, it was very watchable.

SoupyNorman · 14-06-2005 12:54am

I really thought there was a glimmer of hope, but it twas not to be...

I thought it was absolute muck, Geoff and Mr. Lipp had there moments but the rest was just a mish-mash of non-sensical plot and pointless arrivals of other characters just to put them in so to speak!

Fair play for having a go lads but stick to the small screen.....

*hug my LoG DVDs*

The Real B-man · 14-06-2005 5:03am

Mental not enough papa lazarou though :mad:

dearg_doom · 15-06-2005 11:25am

How now, what's all this noise? We'll not have any shouting in this shop! This is a local shop for local people, we don't want your kind around here!

'twasn't the great movie I thought it could have been, but I still had a laugh, there was a good few subtle injokes but nowhere near enough of all the best charachters from the TV show.