Whoops Apocalypse
When A small British colony is invaded by it's Communist neighbour, Newly elected female President of the United States, Barbara Adams (Switt), tried to sort out the mess but the British under the leader of PM Sir Mortimer Chris (Cook) sends in a task force to seize the islands back. For revenge, General Mosquera (Lom), leader of the Communist country, hires the....
When A small British colony is invaded by it's Communist neighbour, Newly elected female President of the United States, Barbara Adams (Switt), tried to sort out the mess but the British under the leader of PM Sir Mortimer Chris (Cook) sends in a task force to seize the islands back. For revenge, General Mosquera (Lom), leader of the Communist country, hires the best terrorist in the world, Lacrobat (Richards), to kidnap the Princess Wendy and hold her to ransom to get the British out. So now Barbara has not only to deal with Mosquera and Lacrobat, she has also to deal with the blindingly insane Sir Mortimer, whose bizarre political moves edge the world towards the brink of World War III...
Based on the early eighties' TV show of the same name (which I've not seen), this is a satire of war which is surprisingly appropriate at the time of writing. We see how a simple, relatively insignificant act can escalate as a simple result of pride. But this is to read to much in to a movie which is designed to get you to laugh as much as possible. Packed with comedy talent - Alexei Sayle, Rick Mayall, the late great Peter Cook, Richard Wilson and Herbert Lom, and written by David (One foot in the grave) Renwick and Andrew (Not the Nine O'Clock news) this movie fails to raise laughs in a spectacular manner.
It's an odd film, trying to blend satire with stupidity, a combination of subtlety and daft physical jokes that generally don't work. There are a few funny moments - Graeme Garden's slow walk to the phone, Peter Cook's potty Prime Minister and Rik Mayall's insane SAS men being the only real highlights in a film that doesn't really know if it wants to be Airplane or The New Statesman. It also suffers from being a British Film that is designed to appeal to the American Palate - it just ends up being hamfisted and mildly entertaining if a little tiring.
As for the DVD presentation, the disk is a bare-bones release with Dolby Stereo sound. The picture is bright enough, and a bit grainy but nothing that detracts from the movie.
There's not much else to say other than this is a very odd movie. I really wanted to like it, and I'll probably show the Rik Mayall section to my friends, but other than that it's not really a movie that I would care to see again, and unless you are interested in it as a historical piece that features so much great British talent, I'd avoid like the plague.
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