Thunder Force Review

Melissa & Octavia deserve better than this.

The twice Academy Award-nominated comedienne Melissa McCarthy teams up for a buddy comedy with her real life best friend, the Academy Award-winning Octavia Spencer. In theory, Thunder Force should have been a match made in heaven. In reality, this film was a dumpster fire from hell.

The Plot

The superhero comedy film is directed by McCarthy's husband Ben Falcone, a man whose resume is mixed at best. The plot of the superhero comedy film revolves around a world where supervillains, but not heroes, exist. Spencer plays an accomplished scientist who is working on a solution to make regular people into superheroes to fight the villains.

Spencer and McCarthy's characters, Lydia and Emily respectively, were once childhood best friends but have since drifted apart. When Lydia decides to visit Emily at her lab to invite her to their high school reunion, she sneaks into her not-at-all protected experiment chamber and is accidentally transformed into a super hero.

Emily then decides to make herself a superhero, too, because YOLO amirite? They then set out to save the city of Chicago from an evil mayoral candidate (aren't they all, though?) and a few super baddies to boot.

A Comedy of Errors

The jokes in this film start out decent enough, but as time goes on and the action comedy elements are introduced everything begins to fall flat. Yes, comedy films do not have to have much depth in their plotlines to succeed. The story in this film is so thin and full of holes, though, it's hard to stay even remotely invested in the characters.

Spencer and McCarthy's chemistry feels forced and awkward, despite the fact that they are, you know, actual friends. Bizarre jokes about Jason Bateman's character having lobster hands and McCarthy's character's need to eat raw chicken to maintain super strength are downright discomforting.

Final Thoughts

Only during a tender moment at the very end of film between Lydia, Emily, and Emily's daughter do we really see the potential of what the movie that could have been. Then we quickly transition back to jokes about vomit, which frankly is what I wanted to do by that point.

Thankfully for Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer they have plenty of films in their back catalog as a palate cleanser from this Thunder Force nonsense. The less remembered about this film in the actresses' resumes, the better.

Where to stream: Netflix

Best for: Technically no one

Shall I stream it? No. Please! Turn away while you still can!