Butcher: A Short Film

The answer to, what happened to Billy Butcher when he was in hiding? Shot by Eric Kripke for the second episode of season 2, Kripke said "but it ultimately didn't end up fitting that well into the episode because it made Butcher's story a lot less mysterious and intriguing, and it slowed down the rhythm".

"The Boys" is arguably both one of the best TV series and one of the best superhero-themed story ever made. However, this short film does not bring any of the great qualities that lead me to make that statement. This five-minute piece is not more than an advertisement, than "fan service". It is well done, but does not sustain itself independently from the series. Indeed, it shows much less than part of a single episode.

For a promotional short film, it feels more like a deleted scene from the series. It has the same good production quality as the series, and Karl Urban continues to be committed to embodying Butcher's tough personality. Technically, it's a good short film, but it doesn't add anything beyond being an advertisement for Amazon. It provides a brief moment of action that is fine, but the short film could have been better utilized if it had lasted at least 10 minutes. The idea of the short film was to find out what happened to Butcher during the time he was missing, and what it shows doesn't lead anywhere. Nothing is known about Jock beyond the fact that he was Butcher's friend, and that's it. It would have been more interesting if in the series Butcher had mentioned something about what happens in this short film. That would have helped the short film contribute something and provided more insight into Jock, no matter how basic it was. Butcher: A Short Film ends up being just an advertisement that is saved by the production and Karl Urban's performance, but it could have been a much more interesting short film instead of feeling like a deleted scene. My final rating for this short film is a 7/10.