I liked this a lot, but oddly, not for the reasons I, or the creators, probably wanted. For example, my favorite character, by far, is
[Show spoiler]Homelander
, for various reasons, but mostly because they are the most interesting character on the show.
More thoughts on the show here, with major spoilers:
[Show spoiler]What I did not like very much were the titular Boys themselves, particularly Hughie who seems to exist just for audience identification. As for the rest of them, the actors lack any chemistry together, and individually, they are given very little to do, so I didn't really give a damn about Frenchie, MM and so on.
I like Karl Urban a lot, so I'm willing to give the guy a long leash even if his accent is...London by way of New Zealand...but I feel he looks much better in his few scenes without the beard and what appears to be a ton of associated hair and facial hair dye. Also, it feels weird to say this, but even though he is onscreen a lot, I would like to see him actively involved in the series more and less focus put on Hughie and his precious girlfriend(s). Hughie, A-Train and Starlight are easily the three worst characters on the show--in that order--and their story arcs have been done before and much better on other shows. Having said that, I know they are there to pad out the series into human interest issues (although as a whole, the season is very iffy on, say, sexual assault and workplace harassment) and to keep the budget down by not forcing the show to have tons of superhero VFX.
If I sound harsh, I do really like the worldbuilding and the idea that people co-exist with superheroes and worship them as celebrities. I think Vought is a really interesting company and I could have done with learning more about them. I also wanted to learn more about the other members of the Seven, especially Queen Maeve, so hopefully, those characters are explored more in the second season. I have to be honest that I don't really care for Hughie at all, and looking at the comics, he's supposed to be Scottish and isn't here, so they might as well just kill this little American dipstick off and do without him (I know they won't do this). I hope he grows some balls and stops constantly looking flummoxed in the second season.
In the end, I saw what was coming for poor Elisabeth Shue a mile away (although I didn't necessarily expect Homelander to melt her eyes out of her head), because her kind-of-major-supporting-role felt like one that was supposed to be contained to one season (especially given that Shue is probably more expensive than most of the other cast), so I figured Homelander would kill her before it was over. Seriously, though, Homelander is awesome, and Antony Starr does a flawless American accent. I also love the, likely unintentional, irony that Homelander is played by a non-American actor.
I'm guessing most people will have a more favorable reaction to Hughie than I did, but even though I didn't like him, I still find there is a lot to like in the show regardless, and although some of the characterizations are wanting, the supporting characters are always interesting and the plotting is pretty fun, too. Another important factor is that the show looks and sounds really good and because they found a way to plot the show well without tons of VFX, the VFX that are there are good because the budget is not stretched by too much of them. In fact, were it not for the fact that most of the actors are unknown or under-known, it's another series that could easily be mistaken for a long format feature film.
Sony's Blu-ray is up to their usually excellent standards in terms of PQ and AQ, and though I haven't checked the discs, I was pleased to see a generous three-disc layout for the eight episodes. I'm sure Amazon, or perhaps even Sony themselves, are blocking this in North America because of the Amazon streaming deal, so I wouldn't hesitate to import as long as you can play Region B discs (I've not checked my copy, but I understand it is locked).
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Not too keen on the menus (it's a universal design where they list all of the episodes rather than just the ones on that actual disc) but that's a small complaint.
. As others have said, the closest comparison is Watchmen but its not much like it. Karl Urban absolutely nails it and without him it just wouldn't be half as good.
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