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Although the two might seem to base their plot line on distinct narratives, The Boys follows in the footsteps of The Running Man in its critique of propaganda machines. Masquerading as truth tellers in fulfilling their main purpose to construct the safety net of a perceived reality in which the population consistently feels comforted by the existence of their overlords, the primary tools of the propaganda machine are almost always fear and narcissism. Whether this fear be directed against the threat of the infamous mythical "superpredators", the communist fifth-columns ready to assist in the case of a soviet invasion or grooming gangs of sexually unorthodox individuals, deliberately aimed at those who are reassured in their good and noble natures (narcissism) for following the prescribed set of values and ascribing to the determined set of narratives, the end result is the same: the targeted individual will not simply become a mark of but an active and willing propagandist for those pulling the strings of the network wizards.

The directors of both works of art don't hold back in portraying these zealous zombies engaging in their overjoyed activities, mindlessly cheering on their supposed heroes through which they cheer themselves, parroting the corporate line like wide-eyed toddlers repeating their parents' sentences subconsciously hoping for an acknowledgement in the form of a kiss or a hug.

As The Boys outline, this desire for accumulating social acceptance as a currency reflects the power of truly effective propaganda, not that the subjects feel they need to repeat it to avoid punishment like many openly authoritarian regimes would operate but that they need to embrace and be part of the lies, proudly peddling them which requires a level of cognitive dissonance that can be seen with true believers of cults. Also similar to cults, some people will try to steal currency and the power that comes with it in order to benefit from the communal deception perpetuated voluntarily by the people. This is where the cynical opportunists factor in, such as Homelander himself.

The American propaganda contraption has done a great job so far of creating mythical narratives, to be discarded after their usefulness becomes questionable going as back early as the myth of the Manifest Destiny resulting in the genocide of the Native Americans and as late as the illegal wars waged on the many nations of the Western Asia and while the pattern of destruction, exploitation and imperialist pursuits never end, the specific reasons and justifications for such endeavors constantly change according to what would make the public would feel good about themselves as their armies rape, pillage and destroy civilizations across the globe.

The Boys simply make the connection through a logical conclusion that it wouldn't be out of character for USA that the same actors would play a central role in the decision of how metahumans fit in as a cog in the capitalist wheel, should that fantasy future ever come to bear.

This is an impactful movie that I consider to be a cornerstone of modern Turkish cinema. It's title Pardon (Apologies) might as well be directed at the faceless millions who suffer(ed) under fascistic regimes whose human rights abuses will continue to be ignored for political and financial convenience.

On it's surface, Pardon is the story of three hapless mates but it's also the story of a continuous dark period in a quasi-democratic republic, marred with injustice brought on by self-appointed forces tirelessly working to protect the state from its citizens. As the story unfolds, we quickly discover that such protections are nowhere to be found when it's required to protect the citizens from the state, especially during intervals of uninterrupted accelerated authoritarianism.

This is such a bitter pill to swallow that it takes a master like Ferhan Sensoy to wrap it's bitter core up in his humorous candy, enabling us to digest the tragedy through comedy. Ancient Greek playwrights would be proud of his craftsmanship.

It's also a story of human perseverence and companionship which constantly forces its audience to invoke their sense of justice as our unwilling participants are dragged through the sham courts, having their spirits crushed blow after blow, bit by bit until they finally give up and accept their fate. The audience can't help but internalize the depressing feeling of the life being sucked out of these once spirited characters.

Ibrahim, our main protagonist serves as the primary means of conveying the collective humanity of the trio. Through a series of flashbacks We're given a background story covering his desires, hopes and plans for the future. While we're presented with many of his flaws, we also come to understand that he's fundamentally a well meaning person who is at times let down by his own detachment from reality.

His family, especially his father is typical working class with a strictly working class relationship with money and wealth which is also at the core of Ibrahim's problems since he can't seem to find the money to set up a small business of his own, which retards his growth as a person: He can't get married, he can't have a family and settle down so he chases unlikely sources of income such as gambling. It's thus additionally tragic that he has to be forced to grow up in prison, under such dire circumstances while life passes him by, leading to a downward spiral of despair.

Muzaffer and Aydin are seemingly two opposite characters who compliment Ibrahim's personality. Muzaffer is a cynical, somewhat selfish person but he's not devoid of empathy and he always seem to have a soft spot for his friends so while it might take some encouraging, he eventually comes through and does the right thing. Aydin is a naive, optimistic romantic who tries to see the silver lining in everything thus as a reward, the universe in its infinite wisdom punishes him the hardest. He's only involved in this clusterfrack because the police need a third suspect and his name is the one Ibrahim comes up with, he is tortured and convicted for simply having made a good impression.

He also serves as a reminder that if we ever feel inclined to distance ourselves from Ibrahim, as peculiar a character as he is, and mistakenly assume this only happens to people like him who don't have a high regard for authority, we should realize that there is no difference when the blind eye of the justice points at random people to hold accountable for a crime they didn't commit. If you're at the wrong place at the wrong time, it really doesn't matter if you're the right or the wrong person.

Ultimately, this is an amazing movie not just because of the quality of the writing, the acting and the addictively quotable dialogue, it's a movie which, through humor, helps society face the abuses of the so-called justice system and perhaps serve to comfort many open wounds of those who were scarred by it.

This movie demands that you not only suspend your disbelief, you also suspend your common sense, decency, intellectual functions and reasoning skills, in order to work.

I don't expect your average movie going American to know current world events let alone historical ones however, if you take one look at how this movie is constructed (aside from poorly) and not realize the glaring inconsistencies such as supposedly professional soldiers not wearing body armor and the employment of mutated hell-spawn animals recruited to fight alongside what is presumably the Persian army, you're obviously going to enjoy this movie.

It's meant for people who would enjoy, without rhyme or reason, the spilling of blood of those they deem worthy of dying at the hands of the people whom they identify with. That's how propaganda is meant to work to entice cognitively challenged masses. There's nothing beyond reason within reason which could put you off enjoying yourself like you enjoy yourself hardcore erotica, by shutting off a majority portion of your brain which wasn't high functioning to begin with.

If I were to be so generously inclined to assume that Frank Miller and Zack Snyder were out to make a meta-movie about the biased depiction of war throughout history and that their general fan base were even capable of comprehending such a critique masquerading as such, perhaps I could also lump myself with the cognitively challenged.