The Boys

Wonderful premise, beautiful pictures, handsome, good and sexy actors, what could go wrong? Unnecessary, stupid decisions. Everywhere. The typical "say something!" \*stuttering and stammering* to introduce some side-story, or secret personas where the only thing to change is the hero's suit, or a wimpy protagonist who has way too many scenes of indecisiveness, long and drawn out dialogues (seriously 2x the speed and it's like things are normal again), extraneous lies to create drama, etc. etc. etc. It's like a trope collection turned into a superhero series with a "*gotcha!*" twist. Seriously, the acting and the story is good, but the tropes kill every redeeming quality. It's a tragedy

A great series set in a world where superheroes are a real phenomenon. Capitalism is omnipresent, profit and money are in everyone's mind. Of course the 'Sups' abuse their power for their own interests and many more cruel and immoral things. Every hero's doing is explained, some more, some less. There's a perfect balance between big serious storylines and little kind of darker humor ones. 'The Boys' are trying to destroy this whole system due to personal problems with some of the 'Sups'. The focus clearly is around them and what they're doing. So it's definitely an Anti-Superhero show which look and topic reminds me of 'Watchmen' or some other more Noir candidates in this genre. The whole series is explicit, which adds up really well. Without the violence and the handling with sexual situations the whole show wouldn't be that impressive and near to the reality. Not appropriate for younger viewers, if you ask me.

For me the whole series is a total and effective satire that lets us see what would become of the world if fiction becomes reality: heroes lose interest in saving the world (or take advantage of its status), are forced to do things that are not right, to follow the company's own interests and do not go out to end the crime if they are not followed by a camera that captures each of their movements, even though they are always transmitting that image of exemplary citizen when in fact they are greedy and treat their fans badly. It's also chilling to know that people in power act as judges and executioners to decide what crimes are profitable and what millions of dollars they rent their superheroes to other cities so they can be safe. The precision in the denunciation of The Boys is one of its strongest points since satire towards these characters is not new, but combining it with the theme of corporate America and wild capitalism gives it a clear differential touch. The series is a total hit and is perfectly developed, to the point of making it impossible to miss because chapter by chapter the anguish increases. So if you have free time, I strongly recommend you to watch this satirical series.

The series had the potential to follow in the footsteps of Watchmen, but woke took over and squelched any objective socio-political commentary that the original comic may have had. Any and all characters in any sort of power position - unless it's the bad guy - is female. It's so obvious and boring a trope that it distracts from the already heavy burden of suspension of disbelief put onto the viewer from being a superhero movie. All characters are equally unlikable scumbags, which may be a part of the original design, but the viewer doesn't know who to root for as the story goes on and more detestable superficiality of the once sympathetic character gets frittered away. Gore and sex are always fun, but in this case the series tries so hard and goes so overboard that anyone who dares to watch the series through might as well have a barf bag on hand. So much hateful political rhetoric, so much woke, so much racist agenda, so much sexism, that I'm not looking forward to going any further than season 3. Enjoy at your own risk, and even that only if you're on a certain side of the very extremist political spectrum.

At least it has Simon Pegg in it, who Hugh was based on. And I kind of can't picture the show without his involvement. It's not as Garth Ennis as I think it should be, it's not as vulgar and offensive and fun as he usually is, and certainly as The Boys was in print... but it comes really close to making that mark, and that is a breath of fresh air given the way that both comic books, and the movies they are based on are going. Ultimately, it's still vulgar, offensive, bloody and funny, even if it could have been more. And it's only 8 episodes, which seems a lot like they aren't trying to drag the story out just to add more, and that is also refreshing. Ultimately, it's a cure for modern comics in a very late 90s British Invasion kind of way

The Boys started off well enough but any potential it might have had as entertainment, backed by legitimate social commentary, has been quickly astro-turfed by the agenda pedlars. This series positively oozes woke. If there's a politically loaded pitch to be made, in my opinion, there's a good chance you'll find it here. What I personally found even more odious, in the current season (4) is the belittling of those who question the mainstream. Yes, to question the established narrative is to be a rube, a fool, a bumpkin, a nobody, who waves a flag and blows an air horn. Of course, ironically the mainstream, especially the mainstream media, have never been more doubted. Small wonder they have taken to dosing peoples entertainment in a clumsily transparent attempt, to lure the "sheep' back into the pen. Suffice to say, lots of wasted potential here. Decent acting, some excellent idea's, all buried beneath thick cheesy layers of mainstream conformism. Ironically, the complete antithesis of the so called reactionary individualism, allegedly inherent, in the series key characters. In summary, when ersatz counter culture is a counter for legitimate counter culture. This series started out well but now its subverting nothing. Its just another pitch, for mainstream woke conformism. The fact they need to sell "this hard", for me at least, offers a degree of insight into how many people are actually buying in....

The Boys on Prime Video is a dark, thrilling take on superheroes that I can’t get enough of. It’s intense, funny, and filled with unexpected twists that keep you hooked. Soldier Boy is my favorite character—his complex, no-nonsense attitude adds a unique edge to the show. And, of course, Butcher’s relentless, gritty personality is second to none. With powerful performances, sharp social commentary, and unforgettable action, The Boys is an addictive ride through a world where heroes aren’t always what they seem.

AN AMAZING WATCH. Really loved Homelander and all his antics.

From the "Superheroes'r'us" department we get the only "superhero" anything that is watchable. Of course, only so because it is a rather thin and blunt allegory to the modern world and the damage it does to the human character, but still funny, witty and grotesque. The best trick is the way it delivers its sermon through the fate of its characters. Worth a watch, although not all seasons are of equal quality.

**The Boys, or the reflection of excess** Prime Video's crown jewel, and perhaps the best series made in a long time, with all due respect to Sam Levinson and his "Euphoria," has been this brutal and harrowing political satire created by Eric Kripke. A sharp and audacious idea that began as an apparently irreverent deconstruction of the caped crusader subgenre, it has, with the passage of seasons and, above all, with the evolution of American socio-political life, become a hyperrealistic mirror of corporatism, media manipulation, and the commodification of fascism. Kripke's greatest triumph lies in the rigor with which he adapts the original material by author Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, stripping it of the comic's nihilistic cynicism to imbue it with a profoundly social and structural dramatic dimension. “The Boys” doesn't reflect the typical good-versus-evil dichotomy, but rather presents the psychopathic tension of Homelander (a sublime and utterly committed Antony Starr) and the vengeful and self-destructive obsession of Butcher (Karl Urban). Both characters emerge as byproducts of a toxic, traumatized, and institutionalized system. The Vought International corporation is, in reality, the backbone of this story, a plot that, just five years ago, in 2021, would have seemed like a simple dystopian narrative, but which we now regard with the same panic with which the characters in the series observe the leader they themselves created. The brilliance of the narrative lies in its ability to dissect how the current far-right landscape absorbs dissent, feminism, activism, and identity, transforming them into trademarks and marketing campaigns to mask its own complexes and control geopolitics, circumventing the most basic rules. All of this sounds all too familiar today. In "The Boys" there's a very unsettling, almost meticulous, balance between hyperbolic gore and social drama. The visual effects and violence aren't merely sensational. They're more of a thematic extension of the dehumanization of bodies in a world where superpowers are a patented commodity. The obsession with faith, dehumanization, the descent into the inferno of ethics itself… it all converges on the current political climate, almost in real time, and is returned to us in the form of a bloody, uncomfortable, yet profoundly necessary catharsis that demands serious reflection.