Two estranged childhood best friends reunite and obtain
superpowers, which they use to protect their city from evil. COMEDY/SCI-FI
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Thunder Force (2021)Written and Directed by Ben Falcone
Starring Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman, Bobby Cannavale, Taylor Mosby, Melissa Leo, Pom Klementieff |
I didn't have very high hopes for Thunder Force. Despite being pretty damn hilarious, Melissa McCarthy's films are surprisingly hit or miss. Spy was great, but Tammy was horrendous. The Heat was funny, but Ghostbusters was horseshit. Bridesmaids was iconic, but Identity Thief was forgettable. See what I'm getting at? I'd say Thunder Force falls somewhere in the middle. Pretty funny at times, but destined to be forgettable thanks to the lukewarm characters, the frequent plot holes, and the waste of a great premise.
McCarthy plays Lydia, a loser who did nothing with her life and still defines herself by her high school best friend Emily (Spencer), a genius scientist who develops a way to give people superpowers. By the way, this is a world where only sociopaths have superpowers, thanks to a radiation blast from space. That's pretty glossed over, and amazingly, the world isn't in complete shambles after the super-douches took it over. But I digress. Lydia reunites with Emily, but accidentally gets injected with the serum, and gets super strength. Emily's powers are invisibility, and together they form Thunder Force under the super names Hammer and Bingo. I know. The film's weakest link is the bad guy. I love Bobby Cannavale, but his villain is so bland and by-the-numbers. Seeing Jason Bateman as a crab man was hilarious, though. I wanted Thunder Force to be a great superhero comedy, but it's fairly tame. I think it would've benefited from an R-rating. McCarthy and Spencer are great together, and they pretty much save the movie. Thunder Force isn't worth the deluge of bad reviews it's received since its Friday release, but it's also not really anything special. The worst part is that it really could've been. |