This movie answers the age-old question "what if we mashed up The Finals, The Hunger Games, and John Wick?"
This is definitely not a movie for everyone (most people?), but it is definitely a movie for me — I loved this thing. The voice over/humor is hit or miss, but I did not find it annoying, and I often found it funny. The action sequences are phenomenal, but the editing is chaotic and often handheld-like. The story and characters are just a means to drive the movie forward, and to go from one set-piece to the next, often building and expanding in ridiculousness. The end fight had some absolutely visceral moments. A lot of the action is so over the top that I just laughed and had a great time. Not the last fight. That thing is a drag out, dirty, amazing piece of choreography.
Bad score/needle drops. The music did not fit a lot of the scenes.
This episode feels like they set it up to be interesting but ended up reductive. But that's just storytelling. I'm not a fan of this particular story. Previously we were told that just because something looks like a monsters doesn't mean it is. It kinda felt specifically like a hint that Medusa was a victim (and she is) in need of sympathy for what happened to her and not revulsion for how she looks. And yet we have Medusa who saves the children and ends up with her head cut off. Almost like we could have just judged her by her monstrous appearance in the first place.
Nice episode. Too bad it’s going too fast ! 30 minutes episode is short :/
This could have (and should have) easily been another 20 minutes longer. This was the shortest episode yet, and there's still so much room for stuff to happen, so I don't see any reason why the episodes have to be this short.
good episode, wayyy too short though. give us 45 minutes at least
I suppose someone hacked into Darby's helmet. Sian wore the one by mistake.
nobody going to see lucas play made me so sad
This is certainly not The Boys' strongest season finale. The plots feel awkwardly resolved and the key plot points they've been developing just ended up as nothing. It feels really underwhelming. Of course there are some positive notes about this finale as well but bear with me, let's go through three most crucial problems for me.
First, Black Noir. What a disappointment. They've been building up Black Noir for at least four out of eight episodes in this season. They even showed him as a person, a real individual with emotion and vivid imagination this season after the previous two he had only been a mute killing machine. And he went down just like that. Sure the conversation between him and Homelander was tense - but that was it. Unfortunately, Black Noir's imaginative flashback, as I've suspected in the previous episodes, serve as nothing more than plot device to move the story forward.
Second, Soldier Boy. The hunt for the ultimate weapon to destroy Homelander ultimately just ended up in vain. Where did it go, the riled up spirit of The Boys in bringing Homelander down? They have the weakest excuses to portray this change of heart. With M.M.'s plot, well, I guess, okay, as he has his own personal vendetta against Soldier Boy, it's still understandable. This is to put aside that they went with the "Soldier Boy kills my family" plot too easily (we didn't get to ever see what actually happened and it's brushed off as nothing more than "racism", which is quite disappointing since there were plenty of rooms for flashback this season).
But then there's Butcher. He ended up beating down Soldier Boy because Soldier Boy hit his kid? I mean, sure it's his kid, but where's the man-with-a-mission-to-kill-Homelander-no-matter-what-it-takes that we've seen for all these three seasons? If Butcher was a little smarter - and he actually is with his cunning tactics and all! - he could've stopped Soldier Boy for a while, let Homelander pats Ryan's back, then when Ryan is out of sight just finish off Homelander by then. Soldier Boy doesn't even seem to hold anything against Ryan (especially after he knows Ryan is Butcher's son). The whole charade about beating up Soldier Boy is a really weak plot point just to let Homelander alive to be the ultimate big bad in next seasons.
Still here? We'll get to Homelander but let's talk about Maeve briefly. What's her end goal? At first she seems to be an ally ready to take down Homelander, but when it comes to actually facing Homelander she can't see the forest for the trees. Rather than staying true to her goal to kill Homelander, she was just absorbed with herself, punching Homelander around only to get herself beaten. Sure, Maeve isn't the most tactical ones, but she's been supplying Butcher with everything so far.
Last, Homelander. As soon as the fight ends, my biggest question is: what would be Homelander's yet another reason to NOT kill Butcher, Hughie, and co? Our Boys have been picking a fight with him since Season 1. It's clear our protagonists are pests to him, but he keeps giving them leeway. At this point isn't it easier to just get rid of them all when Ryan's not looking to prevent our Boys messing up with him again? There's a fan speculation that predicted Homelander is going to be depowered, then he's going to live the whole Season 4 under Vought's protection while our Boys track down the biggest big bad: Compound V. I think I like that better since it's going to show how Homelander will struggle with his weakness and humanity. But I guess the showrunners wanted to keep on getting Homelander more unhinged and even more unhinged and violent, as shown when he lasered a guy in a parade. With this direction, I'm expecting the show to end in a high note with chaos everywhere like perhaps in the comics. I just hope they don't prolong this much further - maybe Season 5 at most.
Then there's some plot devices like Tempo V, powering the army with V, etc that are left unexplored, which feels a bit like nothing more than filler to get the plot moves forward. And the fact that they kind of go with cliffhanger in this finale reminds me of Season 1's rather weak, cliffhanger-ish finale as well (perhaps that's their pattern: the real season finale is in the even-numbered seasons).
That said, this episode is still quite entertaining as it kept me guessing where the plot would go. It's not as frantic and riled up as Herogasm (Eps 6) and the direction is not quite satisfying, but it's fine. The theme of this season is "family", they stay true to that up to the finale. Soldier Boy's dialogue with Homelander is good. Talk about how toxic upbringing would make you become toxic as well, while thinking you can do better than your parents.
I like that they are planning to use the political plot with Neuman in Season 4 (I thought it was going to be wasted after the nice development in Season 2) as The Boys' forte is taking a jab at politics and corporatism. I do hope we will see what Stan Edgar envisioned as Vought "getting out of the supe business in the next five years."
I also like what they did with Ryan, coming together with Homelander, and the way Homelander is normalizing Ryan to violence. This is the consequence of Butcher's acting asshole-ish to everyone and sure hope our Boys will see the consequences of his action, especially with the sweet reunion with everyone at the table in the end (feels like the calm before the storm).
All in all, not a bad finale, but a bit too disappointing in the way they resolve the plots that have been built up all this season.
There's no way they could top the first.
...but then they did
This is one of the best blockbusters ever. It has a ton of action, it is emotional and it makes you think. It's crazy how good the CGI is, you stop thinking about it because of how invested you get in Caesar's journey. Great supporting characters with Maurice and the new addition of Bad Ape. Woody Harrelson is fantastic as always. It will be interesting to see if Andy Serkis' name comes up for best actor next year at the Oscars. He definitely deserves some recognition for his performance.
I think its funny that nature has a ironic sense of humor. The disease that killed everyone is now turning the rest of the humans into a more primitive state. Caesar sparing the colonel was a very emotional moment. Showing he is a much more complicated character than just an ape on a revenge mission. This whole trilogy asks a lot of questions on what is humanity? A very emotional end to a great trilogy.
The transition between Marc and Steven (and also their suits) during the episode was definitely something else that I'll be obsessed with for the rest of the year.
And thank you, Mohamed Diab for finally showing Egypt without the "Hollywood yellow filter". He’s doing an amazing job directing this show, I absolutely love the soundtrack and the visuals.
Man, rest in peace Lance, a great choice to play Zeus, he will be missed
never thought i'd say this, but good for sally! it's been a long time coming with her real character development
This premier episode feels more like Blade Runner than Star Wars. If someone didn't tell me, I would've assumed it as an all-new sci-fi thriller series outside the Star Wars franchise.
This premier episode is largely ambiguous, as we follow one of Rogue One's leading character, Cassian Andor. This opener is set 5 years before the movie (and Star Wars: New Hope), where Cassian is on a lone quest to locate his long lost sister.
Younger viewers might lose their patience as there isn't much action, not even K-2SO. But the world building is fantastic, nearly enough to tide them over.
So, Charlie is basically a crime magnet walking around super glueing people's wounds :grin:
Reaching new hights. This was just brilliant character work all around.
The intensity is so real. Great acting and writing!
A very good first half of the finale with some unexpected twist. Although I was wondering why the Batch never entertained the idea of infiltrating as regular troopers. Now I know.
Very cool to see Krennic and the mention of Project Stardust.
Brutal, entertaining and very funny, a movie that develops well, despite the story being simple and even predictable. The performances are great, especially the development of the main character, whose narration is very funny. The action scenes are really incredible, brutal and very cool, you can't help but get caught up in the movie.
The fight choreography is insanely good. The shaman and june's stunt double are excellent martial artists and their skill is obvious. Every fight is so packed with interesting details that I watched all the fight scenes frame-by-frame. The main actor clearly trained with the shaman in real life. I'd describe the movie as Ong Bok meets Hardcore Henry.
Unfortunately it bombed opening weekend, making only $3M from a $18M budget, but has the potential to be a classic.
Ugh. I didn't want to watch this. I thought it was a movie when the trailer started but I hit play by accident and it was effective. I got sucked in. A nice bob and weave with the story telling. Obviously a lot of mystery to come up with and a murder that might or might not be.
I can't say know to a locked room mystery. One of us did it is just my jam so hard. I don't have a handle on Darby yet what kind of detective she is going to be but I do have a rough grasp on what kind of person she's going to be and I like her intensity. I think it's going to serve her well though out the series.
the pacing is quite slow but i loved the visuals and found the plot very interesting. i'm seated!
Some great acting from Idris Elba here!