The Boys - "The Bloody Doors Off"

So... Stormfront is a Nazi. Racist was bad enough, but she is a straight-up nazi. As if audiences needed another reason to hate her. Jumping the gun a little bit here. Below, I go in a bit more depth but for my opening statement, I feel like I needed to acknowledge this first.

Following some snooping on Stormfront's computer, Annie discovers that something is happening at the Sage Grove treatment center. She brings this to The Boys after Frenchie removes Vought's chip implant in her body. Butcher and Annie finally team up in this one, and they hate each other. Butcher hates Supes and general, and Annie hasn't forgotten when he shot her last season. Seeing them work together was quite engaging, and they work together for one important purpose: saving Hughie. After he gets hit with Shrapnel, they rush to save his life. Another interesting tidbit: Annie is hardened. After she accidentally killed a man to take his car, she didn't self destruct or cry in a corner. She rationalized. It earned Butcher's respect, not that she wants it. The character has gotten great development, and I am all for Annie leaving behind that shiny superhero portrayal she plays for Vought. Seeing Butcher and Annie bond over the silly things Hughie does, like use child shampoo makes for nice levity, especially compared to the drama heavy storyline with the rest of the team.

We finally see why The Boys broke up in the first place from Frenchie's perspective. Hell, this is Frenchie's episode, and Tomer Kapon owns the spotlight. Jumping back and forth with the use of flashbacks, we see Frenchie with his lover Cherie, and his friend Jay. He originally joined The Boys to keep them out of prison. Later, Mallory orders him to follow Lamplighter after the team blackmails him. We know that he left his post, and Lamplighter torched Mallory's grandchildren, but now we know why he left. His friend Jay was suffering from an overdose. After saving his life, he rushed to go back to his post, but it was too late. To make it even worse, Jay, figuring Frenchie abandoned him left him and dies a few months later from another overdose.

All this is revealed when the team discovers that Lamplighter is working at the center, torching uncooperative team subjects. Rather than seeing vengeance being served, we see a team-up. Cindy, a test subject gets loose, and releases more subjects to cause absolute mayhem. Shawn Ashmore is a very underrated actor, so not only am I happy to see him play Lamplighter in an irony casting since he was Iceman, but he gave the character depth rather than him being clear cut evil. He is in torment for killing those kids, and it results in him covering for The Boys so Stormfront doesn't know that they were there and later meeting Mallory in the forest.

Frenchie comes to terms that saving Kimiko wouldn't solve his problems and she doesn't need to be saved. Now, Stormfront kills most of the escaped subjects, but there are a few standouts. Cindy, who is much stronger than she looks as she survived a direct blast from Stormfront, and Love Sausage, whos power is exactly what it sounds like. Seeing a CGI dick wrap itself around Mother's Milk's neck is something I will never forget. A fun easter egg for fans of the comic. I wasn't too sure they would put the character in the series.

Speaking of callbacks, the events of last season involving the plane crash come back here to haunt Maeve. The Deep provides her with a Go Pro from the crash in the sea, and Elena happens to stumble upon it. The video is damaging. This lights a bit of a spark in Maeve's storyline, but not much. The character in hindsight hasn't done much this season, but given how my complaints are seemingly addressed each week, I'll reserve my judgment for next week.

The endgame is revealed. Stormfront and Vought are trying to stabilize Compound V so an adult will be able to take it and get powers without dying. This is an effort to create an army of Supes so Vought can take back control of the culture as in Stormfront's eyes, the other races are beating them. By the episode's end, she reveals this to Homelander and her origins. She is over 100 years old, a nazi, the first successful superhuman experiment, and was married to Fredrick Vought. There is a moment after she dumps this on him that you don't know how he is going to take it, but he responds by kissing her while The Golden Girls theme song is playing. With these two closer than ever, this power couple is even more dangerous.

There is a fun cameo with Christopher Lennertz, the composer of the series. He raps a theme song for A Train, and I demand that it be made available to Spotify immediately.

"The Bloody Doors Off" fires on all cylinders with black humor and gory violence, but successfully ramps up the tension without being repetitive.
9/10

The Boys - "We Gotta Go Now"

Any show that disses what Joss Whedon did to Zack Snyder's Justice League is instantly my favourite. Writer Ellie Monahan is the episode's MVP. Her commentary of the way superhero films are created, and how corporations have thin unfelt inclusion hits the mark.

We open on a Zack Snyder like shot, with Queen Maeve and a hacker woman in a war-torn street. Through he dialogue is noticeably low quality and the pandering to the LGBTQ community obvious as if the writers of Supergirl were on set. It turns out that Vought is making their Justice League film: Dawn Of The Seven. Besides having to perform a noticeably weaker role in the film, Maeve also finds herself Vought's new diversity hire, with a massive campaign made behind her and her girlfriend Elena's relationship. The satire here should be a wake-up call. It is awkward and cringes in all the right ways. I like the direction that they are taking Maeve here. As the character suffers from burnout, she didn't have that much of an active role in season 1, nor the comics. Now, with the mission she placed upon herself to take down Homelander, she will take a more active role in the overall storyline. Her and The Deep haven't interacted, so it will be cool to see where that goes.

Anthony Starr was surprisingly hilarious in this episode. Sure, more unsettling moments, especially the scene at the protest, but he was a source of some of the biggest laughs. Homelander was filmed killing a Supe terrorist on video, but his laser vision ended up hitting an innocent, resulting in protests against him. Homelander's mental state during the protest scene was suspenseful and tense. The moment when he lasers the entire crowd is a fake-out, but with what has been established with him this season alone, I wouldn't have put it past him, so it gives the moment impact and weight.

A-Train, having been fired also finds that his storyline in the film has been altered to retire him. He attempts to resist it, but both Ashley and the director reject his ideas. In the end, to avoid losing his benefits, he submits and films his exit to Homelander. Actually, to add insult to injury, he films his goodbye in front of a Homelander stand-in. Jessie T Usher didn't waste his screen time here. He was great. Also, with what we know about Stormfront, the conversation between the two regarding Church was uncomfortable.

The Boys storyline will more dramatic than action-packed, but still interesting. For one, the team is still separate. Not a big deal, as The Seven have all been together a total of 4 times through the entire show so far. Just an observation. Butcher, still reeling from Becca choosing not to leave with him leaves the team to visit his aunt Judy, who is taking care of his dog, Terror. Terror in the comics had a habit of humping thins. Behind the scenes, the dog actor was a bit of a diva, and would not hump on command. Of course, the dog being as cute as he is is excused from any culpability. Hughie and MM (Mother's Milk) find him there. Black Noir is also there, having tracked Butcher from the Vought compound, and they rigged the house with explosions. They failed to do anything but destroy Judy's house. The team fights Noir face on, and it also failed. Butcher manages to keep them alive by threatening Vought with pictures revealing the secret of Ryan's existence. Mr.Edgar who is watching from a camera in Noir's suit calls off Noir in exchange for the photos never being released. At this moment, I realized two things. One, Butcher's lying on the spot was incredible. Two, Mr. Edgar is aware of everything that goes on in his company. As a black man, what is he doing with Stormfront?

The relationship between Hughie and Butcher is given more depth here. We learn that Butcher had a brother named Lenny who is like Hughie in a lot of ways. The older brother younger brother relationship had subtle yet tender moments. The chemistry of The Boys as a whole makes their team dynamic feel natural and believable. The history implied between Butcher and MM works because of this.

The episode benefits from a faster pace from last week's episode. The weakest part of of this episode is with Kimiko and Frenchie. Frenchie adoration with her was sweet in season 1, but his character has become defined by it. Kimiko, venting her anger has become a hitman, resulting in the week's grossing visual of ripping a man's face off. Was it because he thought Dear Evan Hansen was better than Hamilton? No, but I like to think so. This results in the two fighting in a church. This fails to create the effect the show wants it to as Kimiko is communicating in a language that Frenchie does not understand, so it is rendered useless.

The ending of this episode has me cringing. I thought Homelander and Stormfront would-be rivals, not lovers engaging in super-violent superhero sex. The sound effect during the oral portion is brief yet shocking. I expected the two of them to be rivals, but as lovers, their dynamic is much easier to invest in. Stormfront puts on a good face to disguise who she really is, so her plans for Homelander raise a lot of them. Also, the sex scene, while beautiful shot revealed that she is just as powerful as him, withstanding his laser blasts that are known to cut people in half. She is much more dangerous now with Homelander wrapped around her finger. Shawn Ambrose, best known as Terry Fox and Iceman from the X-Men franchise plays Lamplighter and had a brief cameo in this episode. He and Stormfront are working together. It has been a while since I read the comics, so I don't know his purpose, but the character was referenced last season as the reason The Boys broke up in the first place, so last week has me hyped.

Side note: 3 former castmembers from Timeless were in this episode. As a clockbuster fan, I loved this.

The Boys sets up new dynamics, providing more developed stories for The Supes, continuing the show's streak of satirical wit, and shocking moments. This is the show at its best. Kimiko and Frenchie's story is still weak though.
9/10

The Boys - Nothing Like It In The World

Love. The feeling of it can be ecstatic, but also brutally painful. Most of the characters this week experience some form of it. From the sweet and tender to the downright messed up and dysfunctional. Nevertheless, the stories all end up the same way for heroes and villains alike: poorly.

The show taking the time to slow down after the shocking events of the previous episode was a wise one. Hell, this episode has a running time of 68 minutes, and the gore was severely down. I mean, every episode in the first season had a messy murder. There is death in this one, but the blood is kept to a minimum here. Even Stormfront is kept in the background this time, while the groundwork is continued to be laid down as we learn more about her and her past, but the focus is on relationships: Hughie and Annie, Billy and Becca, Homelander and his ego, Frenchie and Kimiko, Maeve and Elena.

In the aftermath of last week, with Kenji set up as the murderer of all of Stormfront's victims, she continues to stoke the fires of public outrage with Kimiko steaming, watching her with revenge on her mind. The last thing she wanted to deal with was Frenchie kissing her. Frenchie, wracked with guilt is on a drug fuel bender. Seeing the error of this action as a selfish one when she is grieving, he makes up for it by stopping her from making a move on Stormfront at one of her rallies. There is no way she would walk away from that fight.

Mallory kicks off the other two storylines involving The Boys. Raynor has files involving a hero from the 70s of the name of Liberty. Mother's Milk and Hughie go off on a road trip to follow the lead, but Hughie brings Annie as well, feeling that she shouldn't be alone after Homelander assaulted her back at Vought HQ. This trio pairing was a fun one. Hughie and Annie as having fun singing to Billy Joel annoying MM is a classic road trip scenario. Hughie and Annie even hook up again, as if anyone is surprised, but this brief joy doesn't last long. They discover that Liberty was a racist superhero, who killed a black man for no reason other than he was black. Sound familiar? The timing of a storyline like this after this summer personally effected me as it will affect many other minorities. The icing on the cake? Liberty is actually Stormfront. To recap, Stormfront is the living embodiment of immortal, murderous racism that doesn’t age and has found a way to come back stronger in 2020. Damn. After the trip, Annie ends things with Hughie as the two of them together is too dangerous, and everyone is really just alone.

The other storyline is with Butcher given Becca's location, and he goes after her and sneaks into the compound where she is being held. Becca is a much stronger character than I thought she would be. The feelings between her and Butcher hasn't disappeared after all their time apart, and the two certainly attempt to make up for lost time with car sex. But reality sets in. She knows that Butcher will never accept Ryan, and she couldn't cope if he gets killed due to his vendetta with Homelander so she doesn't go with him. Karl Urban has been performing as a more emotionally vulnerable Butcher, and he is doing some great work here. I am curious how this setback will influence his actions for the second half of the season. Hughie and Frenchie too. Heartbreak all around.

To me, it seems that it will become quickly redundant when I tell you that Anthony Starr is doing excellent work again. His increasingly melting mental state is fascinating to watch. His unresolved mommy issues are fueled with Doppelganger morphing into Stillwell in a secret cabin in the woods for him. He also makes big moves regarding the seven, such as threatening Annie, kicking A-Train off the team, and outing Maeve on television. They tease a confrontation between him and Stormfront. It will be quite conflicting to vote for the winner of that fight.

"Nothing Like It in the World" wisely chooses to focus on the emotional and mental journeys of the ensemble, making it an impactful follow up after the previous episode while continuing to set the stage for the season's upcoming conflict.
8/10

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

The Babysitter was some much-needed escapism when it was first released. A horror film that played with tropes and didn't take itself too seriously. Sure, maybe it was a little stupid, but I had a blast watching it, so when they announced a sequel, I was excited. I am happy to report that the sequel delivers, and cleans up some story holes from the first. It is ridiculously rewatchable.

The film is set two years later. After surviving the night against Bee and her blood cult friends, Cole finds himself an outcast as no one believes him about the events of that night. His parents are considering putting him in a facility. To escape the pressures of high school, he accompanies his best friend and crush Melanie to a party in the canyon. Those plans are thrown out the window when the blood cult ( Max, Allison, Sonya, and John) return from the dead. Stuck in limbo, every two years they are allowed to roam the earth, and attempt to complete the blood ritual that they didn't finish.

Cole must once again survive the night, but he doesn't have to do it alone this time. He is aided with his new classmate and fellow outcast, Phoebe who has personal reasons for being in the canyon. While all this is happening, Cole and Melanie's parents are trying to find them. Well, Cole's parents are trying to find him. Melanie's dad wants his car back.

Its bonkers style is fully realized and embraced this time around, doubling down on its 80's influences. The comedy is at the forefront here, and the ensemble successfully balances it here. With its self-aware style, it gives you more of what to expect with the villains but briefly expanding on their backstories and motivations which was missing from the film. In the original, some of it fell flat and was scattershot. This was particularly surprising as four writers are credited to this film. When there are four or more writers, that is usually a warning sign. The kills got more creative, and with Cole's character being older and having experience, the character is much more active and surviving the night.

The twist with Melanie's character in the middle act ks so something that I am still on the fence about. I certainly didn't see it coming, but the change felt forced and didn't flow well. Respect to the filmmakers to sticking with it till the end, but I didn't like it. Honestly, most of the new villains fell flat in personality and how they were written, especially when they share the screen with the original villains. The scenes shared between Cole's dad and Melanie's dad annoyed me, but the parallels between them and how their kids turned out is some good perspective.

The climax somewhat disappointed me. Bee's character is back, making brief appearances throughout the film in flashbacks. Her involvement in this one to me felt shoehorned in, and I wish that they moved on from her character. How she is brought back and her interactions with the clut were straoght up sloppy. The plot holes around couldn't be ignored. Samara Weaving is great, but if you are going to include her again, give her more to do. The soundtrack, like the first one is killer, and only adds to the fun, keeping the story's kinetic energy up.

Judah Lewis and Jenna Ortega play off each other well and provide a good dynamic between them to serve as the heart of the film. The entire cast is having fun here, but the scene-stealer of both films is Andrew Bachelor (King Bach). He was the first cult member killed last time, and he last longer than the rest here. He is effortlessly hilarious and likable, even though he is evil. Another relationship in this film I liked was the dynamic between Cole and Max. Max is a psychotic killer who encourages Cole to stand up for himself and grow up, while still trying to kill him. His attachment to him is somewhat endearing.

If you are looking for a bloody good time, look no further. There is a tease for a potential third film, but unlike other potential franchises, this film stands on its own.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen is a sequel that improves upon the original, and is a hilarious silly gory ride with unexpected emotional heft.
8/10

Mulan (2020)

The trailers for this film bored me. The prospect of another live-action remake of one of Disney's animated films didn't excite me. I wasn't a huge fan of the original animated film. I enjoy it, but I don't love it, so I wasn't too terribly invested in another Mulan film. So it was no surprise that when I watched it, I was bored. This review is gonna be short and sweet because I have already spent more time than necessary with this film.

Set in Imperial China, the film is about Mulan who defies both the law and tradition by disguising herself as a man and taking her father's place in the army since the o ly man in her family is her old and weaken father. The soldiers are trained to save China from Bori Khan and his forces, who seek to overthrow the Emperor of China. So overall, the same story as before. A few changes here and there, but the foundation is the same.

Shifting from a musical to a fantasy epic was at least an inspired choice, rather than another direct remake. Its almost as if the filmmakers had a feeling that fans wouldn't be feeling that essentially shot for shot remake of The Lion King (2019). Mulan is a unique woman with elevated chi that allows her to have enhanced reflexes. She has had them since she was a child, and had a pretty good grasp of how to use it, and this continued into adulthood. So when she embraces it when she reveals her true identity, the moment falls. Had she denied and hide her gift, it would have been a more powerful moment, but it just wasn't. Maybe she should have cut off her hair like the original.

The parallels between Mulan and Xianniang, the shape-shifting witch is one of the only interesting things the film. The two of them are unique individuals with abilities that others consider taboo and are treated as outcasts. While this isn't fully explored to its potential, the story between the two of them is strong enough that it honed in on the fact that the main villain Bori Khan, felt flat. Honestly, the film didn't make his character or his motivations a priority so he is as generic as it gets.

Director Niki Caro invests a good deal of time creating interestingly shot action sequences. I did enjoy what she did with the camera. Having Donnie Yen doing his thing is always a plus. It did get to feel repetitive in a way, and overall, it wasn't as epic as it wanted to be. The final battle in fact felt quite small.

The lead actress is... dull. We spend 90% of the film following Liu Yifei's Mulan, but rooting for her to succeed and engaging with her journey was difficult. Lack of facial expressions, and emotional weight. Liu is at her most energetic during the fight scenes, but that's it. Maybe the screenplay doesn't give her much to work with, but great actors have done a lot more with a lot less. The performances all around in this film are passable. The ensemble of soldiers was plain while the original had several different unique personalities.

A shame that the film was released on Disney+, rather than in theaters, like many others, but I doubt it would have made its money back. The most expensive film directed by a female director at 200 million, we should have gotten a lot more. A beautiful looking mess.

Mulan sets itself apart enough from the original animation film, and edges towards a thrill ride with large scale battle sequences, but comes off as dull with a flat lead performance, thinly written characters, and unearned emotional catharsis.

3/10

The Boys Season 2 Premiere

Note: This review encompasses the first 3 episodes of the season as they were released on amazon prime at the same time. This is the next show I will be doing weekly.

If anyone requires their superhero fix, look no further than the second season of The Boys. Maybe its too early to say so, but this is one of my favorite shows, and on its current course, it may eclipse the original comics, of which I read and loved. Besides giving the original stories a modern update, especially in regards to its female characters, it recreates moments and stories from the original comics that OG fans can appreciate.

We pick up not long after the events of the first season. The Boys are the most wanted people in the world. Licking their wounds while in hiding, they still plan to take down Vought, the company behind The Seven. Hughie is getting help of double agent Annie/Starlight in retrieving compound V. Butcher, last season discovered that his wife is still alive, and has given birth to Homelander's son, and is determined to get her back. Homelander, after killing Stillwell is becoming increasingly unhinged, and while initially thinks he will finally be given free reign shockingly finds himself neutered by the arrival of Stormfront, the new member of the seven, and Mr. Edgar, the head of Vought.

This is just a smart show. The ideas its presents, the size of the cast, the length of episodes, and the money on the line, it has no choice but to be. Eric Kripke, the man behind other great shows, Supernatural, Timeless( A personal favourite), runs a tight ship, and the writer's room is firing on all cylinders this season. Its vision of superheroes in a heightened reality similar to ours is frighteningly accurate and resembles what the DCEU would look like if Zack Snyder could do whatever he wanted.

As this is the "we got money" season, the visuals received a huge bump. There is a sequence where the camera pans up on a building being destroyed from the inside that I loved. Sure, the exploding heads are just as gory and shocking as the first season(The season 2 opening scene alone starring Black Noir is a standout scene) but the scope feels bigger. Watching the series feels like watching a particularly long film rather than a television series. The second season honestly feels like the first season continued. The consistency is maintained without skipping a beat.

The massive ensemble cast is much more balanced in the first three episodes alone than in the previous season. Queen Maeve, Kimiko, The Deep, Frenchie, and Ashley are given more to do with their storylines. Kimiko's character in particular is given the respect she deserves this season. This mute character is given much more emotional depth and heart beyond the feral character from the original comics. She is independent from her connection with Frenchie and really does come into her own. Karen Fukuhara doesn't waste her increased screentime.

In fact, this show's treatment of female characters trumps the original comic any day of the week. Episode 2 actually takes shots at films and television shows who pat themselves on the pat with on the surface female representation. The slogan "Girls get it done", and the lazy feminism thrown at the female superheroes make for top-notch satirical humor, from Aya Cash especially.

The relationship between Hughie and Annie is still a strength for the series and provides sweet relief from the door events surrounding them. I do hope that the dynamic between them does shake up a bit because while the relationship between the two was a highlight last season, the storylines and events happening around them are proving to be much more engaging.

The entire cast is at the top of their game. The MVPs are Antony Starr, whose screen presence as Homelander alone especially is captivating. He is unnerving, terrifying, and creepy to watch. Karl Urban excels as Butcher, with his particular sense of profanity with the usage of the word "cunt" providing laughs. His scenes with Jack Quaid this season with their characters at odds are particularly fun. Aya Cash quickly establishes herself as a standout. Episode 3, especially near the end will shock if you don't know the character's history in the comics.

The way that episode 3 unfolds, it is no wonder why the show decided to switch to a weekly format. Fans will be discussing it. Honestly, I considered review bombing for the first time in my life because I prefer binging like last season, but frankly, this show is well worth the wait. The after-show with Aisha Tyler is worth a look as well.

The Boys have a triumphant return, continuing to tell stories with compelling characters old and new, and set up the stakes for an ambitious engrossing season.
10/10