Netflix’s Thunder Force – A Kneecapped Superhero Farce

The many contributions between Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone haven’t had the best track record yet they continue to make films together in spite of that. When it comes to their latest effort, Thunder Force, that track record looks to continue which is quite the understatement as it is arguably their weakest effort thus far. This painfully-unfunny comedy is sure to test even the most patient of viewers, making its 100+ minute running time feel like something much longer than that. A misfire on just about every conceivable level, the film is far beyond something that’s so bad that it’s good. It’s sad more than anything else watching certain big names stoop to such a level, allowing themselves to be saddled with such horrendous material. Watching the actors trying far too hard to make it work which only made that bad material even worse. Also, a dull and hamfisted mess of a story relying on lazy superhero tropes in order to tie its unfunny humor and various gags together didn’t necessarily help either.

Thunder Force takes place in a world ravaged by supervillains. Meanwhile, the story saw two estranged friends named Lydia (McCarthy) and Emily (Spencer) reunited after years apart under exciting circumstances as the latter, a scientist, devised a treatment to give normal humans superpowers thus giving them a chance against the supervillain menace. Technically a superhero film on paper, it was more about the relationship between these two women who of course couldn’t be any more different and whose humor of course came from this for the most part. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen any comedy as its a trope that has been done to death but can still work if handled properly though this film, unsurprisingly beats that to death while trying to distract viewers by trying to ground that relationship with a lazy and dull backstory that goes nowhere in the hopes of having it reinforce its predictable conclusion.

Coming together to become Thunder Force, standing in Lydia and Emily’s way was a trio of ridiculous albeit bland villains in which the film refers to as miscreants with even more ridiculous abilities, including “The Crab” (Jason Bateman), “Laser” (Pom Klementieff), and their leader “The King” (Bobby Cannavale). However in the end, its dull story with no stakes whatsoever or mediocre characters don’t matter as they’re ridiculous and thin anyway. Most viewers will merely be tuning in to Thunder Force to see McCarthy and/or Spencer riff against each other but even that wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it could’ve been. The incredible cringe factor of its horrendous script made any chance of entertainment next to impossible. As far as most are likely concerned, regardless of what else the film does or may offer, it begins and ends there. That being said, Lydia and Emily’s costumes looked pretty good though everything else felt cheap and the camera couldn’t quite keep up with the action.

As far as the performances were concerned, they can only do so much with the material they are given. Thunder Force is truly kneecapped by its atrocious script that not even McCarthy and Spencer can save although it didn’t do anyone any favors. Even their chemistry was lacking as Spencer, who was okay as Emily, felt like a hostage as the straight man to McCarthy’s Lydia who was pretty much the same character, give or take, that she has played countless times in countless films. Suffice it to say that this film is not going to convert any non-fans of hers as it hits those same beats to a tee while fans of that schtick will be at home here.

At the end of the day, Thunder Force is a monumental misfire destined to fade into obscurity among the rest of the Netflix catalogue.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.