Thunder Force

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Here we have a title that keeps popping up on my Netflix suggestions, and I have to admit that there was always a part of me sort of curious about checking it out. Right from the get-go, you can pretty much understand that it doesn't seem to be a movie taking itself seriously, and both McCarthy and Spencer seemed like a pair that would be enjoyable to watch from a contrast perspective. I knew this wasn't going to be like watching an 'Avengers' flick, so I wasn't entirely surprised to learn that in the end, it wasn't all that enjoyable.

The film takes place in an alternate reality where some electro-magnetic pulse (or something along those lines) has mutated people giving them superpowers. The select few, however, were all violent sociopaths, and therefore the world has been taken over by supervillains with no superheroes to balance things out. As children, we meet the brilliant Emily Stanton (Bria Danielle Singleton/Tai Leshaun/Octavia Spencer) who befriends tough girl, Lydia Berman (Vivian Falcone/Mia Kaplan/Melissa McCarthy), and together they dream of one day being able to put a stop to the destruction these "Miscreants" cause. Eventually, in their teenage years, the pair drift apart, as Emily is constantly distracted by her schoolwork and Lydia wants to have a bit more fun.

Years pass, and their high school reunion approaches, so Lydia contacts Emily about going. When Emily doesn't show up, Lydia heads to her lab to pick her up and stumbles on an important experiment - the potential to give superhuman powers to average people, accidentally injecting herself with a "super strength" serum. From there, plans go forward for the ladies to live out their dreams, and bring down a crime lord running for Mayor, calling himself The King (Bobby Cannavale), along with his most dangerous henchwoman, Laser (Pom Klementieff), and true neutral henchman, The Crab (Jason Bateman); a character who makes for the most bizarre turn in the film, being a dude with crab claws who Lydia seemingly falls for.

This is a film that isn't entirely without its moments, and parts of it were humorous along the same lines as something like 'The Tick'. It does the superhero thing, but leans on a sort of weird reality. Once again, The Crab is probably the best example of this, as he's also pretty mild-mannered. But the film does take some odd cuts and make you wonder what the hell you just watched, or why it's necessary. One way they attempt humour here is definitely in the "gross-out" way. This is done a few times, but none of which is more nasty than the idea of Lydia developing an insatiable appetite for raw chicken - this is a side-effect of the serum. They really throw it in your face here, and you're just not laughing at it.

I have to mention that there are a lot of pretty stupid decisions made throughout the film, not the least of which is the climactic sequence. I won't spoil it, but let's just say it tries to tug on the heart strings while you're sitting there going "wait, why didn't you just do this?" - yeah, it's one of those movies. There's not much depth to it, and it can be fun if you're in the right mood. But I personally didn't get much out of it, often wondering if it was just trying too hard. That said, however, it is a Netflix original, so it's not like you're paying full-price for it if you decide to check it out. Who knows? Maybe you can get more out of it that I did.

2/5

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