No Surrender Cinema: The Boys (S1 Ep1) “The Name of the Game”
It’s taken over 10 years to happen, but today is the day. No more rumors that got my hopes up. No more scripts stuck in developmental hell. The Hollywood bullshit surrounding The Boys has finally come to a close with the premiere of an eight episode first season today exclusively on Amazon Prime. In this special edition of No Surrender Cinema, I dive headfirst into the television debut of Garth Ennis’ world of shady superheroes and the squad assembled to keep them in line. If you haven’t seen it yet (and especially if you’ve never read the comic) there might be minor spoilers ahead, so read on at your own risk!
Based on the comic book of the same name, The Boys is another entry into the seemingly infinite number of superhero stories taken from print and being put on film. There is, however, a major difference between The Boys and something like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Arrow. Even Gotham, which is a twisted taken on Batman’s mythology can’t compare to what you’re about to see. There’s a reason that this is on Amazon Prime, or why it was so close to being a cable series on Cinemax of all channels. It takes the wholesomeness of the Marvel heroes and takes a crap on every single one of them, and does dark far better and to more extremes than the DC Universe ever did. In fact, The Boys was a comic book initially released under DC’s Wildstorm imprint for the first six issues of its existence, until the same company that has brought us some of the most miserable superhero films of all time decided it was too much for them to take! Fortunately, creator Garth Ennis (famous for his runs on The Punisher and Preacher, the comic of which the AMC series is based on) found a home for The Boys over at Dynamite Comics, where he was able to shape a world full of heroes who spend their free time engaging in some of the most heinous acts imaginable. After 72 issues, numerous spinoffs, and sex and violence so graphic even Troma Films might say “hey Garth, go easy man!”, the adventures of Billy Butcher, Hughie, Mother’s Milk, The Frenchman, and The Female finally ended. It was a sad day when I turned that final page, but today, as I sat and watched the first episode of The Boys, I’m reminded of how much that first issue won me over.
The Boys begins with two young kids on the streets of New York debating which member of The Seven (Ennis’ homage slash parody of the Justice League) is better. Is it The Deep (aka the Aquaman knockoff portrayed by former Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford), or is it Translucent (Alex Hassell), the hero who is able to vanish into thin air as demonstrated during his appearance on The Tonight Show? As these youngsters debate what would happen if the two heroes had to face off with each other (“…The Deep makes a shark bite Translucent’s dick off.”) they find themselves in the midst of a full on superhero assault on some thieves attempting a getaway. The appearance of Queen Maeve (Dominque McElligott, portraying this world’s version of Wonder Woman) and The Homelander (Antony Starr of Banshee fame) thrills the kids, who aren’t at all traumatized by being briefly held hostage, and instead their main concern is a selfie with Homelander, aka Ennis’ version of Superman. This serves as deeper insight into the portrayal of society as a whole in The Boys. The superheroes are corporately sponsored, with marketing teams and spin doctors and media flooding every channel with stories of reverence. It’s a not so subtle dig about how things this day in age feel more manufactured and less “real”, and making the heroes come off as less than genuine is a good stepping stone to what’s about to come.
Hughie (Jack Quaid, son of Dennis and Meg Ryan) is a 20-something clerk at a low level AV store… think Radio Shack but more ghetto. Hughie seems like a total pushover, but fortunately has a girlfriend named Robin that is totally into him. Unfortunately, their love is not strong enough to withstand super speed, because A-Train accidentally runs right through Robin.
Yes, read that again. He runs RIGHT. THROUGH. HER. The slow motion shot of Hughie getting covered by the blood splatter of his true love and being left holding the bloody stumps that were once her arms is equal parts shock value, dark comedy, and emotional. A-Train stops short once he realizes what he’s done, but his apology is less than heartfelt, and it serves to make Hughie jaded towards anything to do with superheroes, be it Vought International (a defense contractor that is pulling the strings of many of the superheroes and government officials) or A-Train himself. His father thinks he should get past it, and Vought is ready to move on from the incident rather quickly, while Hughie is in the midst of mourning. Even a trip to the convenience store is hard on poor Hughie, when he sees A-Train plastered all over all sorts of merchandise and it sends him into a panic attack.
Elsewhere, over in Iowa, the pretty Annie January, aka Starlight, is preparing for an audition to join The Seven. Yes, in this world, heroism is all about the bottom line, and that includes holding casting calls to see what heroes are the perfect fit for continued appeal. Annie’s mom, well aware of her super powers, even grinds her like a stage mom would. Annie pours her heart out for the cameras and is very real about it, openly stating that she walks a line between hopeful and naive. She winds up getting the gig as the new member of The Seven, but things go south real fast during her first encounter with one of her teammates.
Finally, we get the man of the hour, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). Butcher confronts Hughie under the guise of being a FBI agent, and coerces him into helping him against The Seven. Hughie is incredibly skeptical of Butcher and insecure about his own ability to be able to be an asset, but his anger over how Robin’s death was handled makes the choice to do Butcher’s bidding an easy one. As you might expect, the choice was easy but the situation he ws put into was anything but. It makes for a fun face off with one of the world’s main heroes, as well as the introduction to another major character from The Boys.
Over the past 13 years, I grew to love what Garth Ennis was doing with The Boys. I was smitten with it instantly, saddened when it was canceled by DC, ecstatic when it was brought back. I’ve read and re-read it numerous times. I’ve pitched it to numerous friends who were looking for something new to read, and I’m happy to say that several of them came out of it as big of a fan of The Boys as I am. Moreso than any other show in recent memory, this is the one I’ve been waiting for, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s also hard to turn off, which I can admit from experience as I kept getting distracted from writing this review as the season continues to play on my Amazon Prime.
In a time where we either get amazing superhero epics with ensemble casts or drab and dreary films that flop, it’s good to see that The Boys is doing what the book did best and combines every aspect of the genre that it can. Yes it’s dark, but never depressing. It establishes the status quo quickly, so we already know who to root for and who’s a piece of shit. The cast really nails their roles, especially Quaid as Hughie and Erin Moriarty as Annie/Starlight. It was also great to see the nod to Ennis’ inspiration for the Hughie character, Simon Pegg, playing Hughie’s dad. It was a nice moment of meta humor that the hardcore fans like myself are sure to appreciate. I would also be remiss in not mentioning Starr as The Homelander. The self-congratulatory smirks that stretch across his face express his ego well. This is THE hero, the one that all others bow down too, and the one that nobody wants to mess with.
If you want a weekend binge, then there is no doubt what you should be watching. All eight episodes of The Boys are available on Amazon Prime right now. As I make my way through the season I may get more in depth with a review of the entire thing, but for now trust me when I say you won’t regret adding this one to your queue. With the way things were set up just in this first hour, I can only imagine what pieces of The Boys’ stories are about to be shown live and in living color. Despite knowing what moves the series is going to make because I’ve read the book, it hasn’t taken away any of my enjoyment at all. Fans expecting your typical superhero story will be highly disappointed, but anyone wanting an over the top, much more mature take on the heroes that have taken over our lives need to see this one ASAP.
