Thunder Force - New Release Review
- T. Bruce Howie
- Apr 18, 2021
- 5 min read
This just makes me sad. In a time where the superhero genre is being dissected and amplified in terms of quality like never before, where amazing blockbusters can be made for no money and released to people quickly on streaming platforms, and where people need role models more than ever before, a movie like Thunder Force could have been excellent.
But my god…what have they done?

So Thunder Force is about two women (Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy) who were best friend as teenagers – one an introverted and studious aspiring scientist, the other a distracted and disinterested slacker – but drifted apart due to an argument. Years later, the two reunite as the scientist is about to inject herself with a serum to give her superpowers, as the only other ones who receive superpowers in the world are those who emit brainwaves similar to that of sociopaths (confusing, I know). However, the slacker accidentally injects herself with half the serum, and so the two have to work together to beat the bad guys, inevitably becoming friends again.
There’s a lot to cover in this review, but I just want to start by saying that this is not an inherently bad premise. It could cover a lot of storytelling ground, interesting themes and genuinely effortful comic action scenes. That’s if they tried…but they didn’t.

I could spend ages picking apart every single element of this movie which I outright hated in some way, but I’ll only divide it into 5 important areas – direction, writing, performances, audience and the breakdown of the superhero genre which this movie is trying to pursue.
Starting with direction, this is one of the least energetic-looking and poorly shot superhero films I’ve ever seen. Director Ben Falcone does not seem to have a filmmaking intent beyond merely framing a scene, even if it ultimately adds nothing or even exposes the shoddy-as-hell wirework in stunt scenes. This movie is boring to look at, with even the cheap special effects only coming in one shade of blue and barely being visually diverting. Additionally, the action scenes are an absolute tragedy, rapid-cut and full of terrible stuntwork, and the editing is metronomic and often jumping randomly between time frames in a way that made my brain queasy.
When I’ve spent my time watching filmmakers who’ve spent their hard-earned time on miniscule budgets to create singular pieces of science-fiction and superhero cinema, a movie made as lazily as this one frankly enrages me.

Moving onto writing, I’m not even sure there was a script for this movie.
There’s so much ad-lib from the cast, particularly Melissa McCarthy, and none of it feels mildly amusing or as though there’s a key intent in the story. What moments ARE scripted are either dull exposition scenes or ruined by Falcone’s lifeless direction.
I’ve also haven’t seen a movie that has inspired me to question the integrity of logical progression of events as much as this has, since maybe Wonder Woman 1984. Every scene seems to be throwing the world-building, rules, physics and general human logic to the wind to be randomly scattered in other scenes of the movie. I think that if anybody actually watched this film, the IMDb goofs page would have at least 20 instalments under the “Plot Holes” folder.
Now performances. I don’t hate Melissa McCarthy at all – I think movies with her like Spy or Bridesmaids are hilarious, and she showed her dramatic range with the great Can You Ever Forgive Me. But she has a problem with confusing improv for just saying random things in a random order to get a laugh, and that’s what a lot of the comedy of this movie is built on. It’s grating and makes her character so unlikable that you legitimately want her to go away or die in the film.
Everyone in the movie (aside from a mildly likable Jason Bateman) is flat as a pancake or just plain bad. Octavia Spencer, a marvellous actress, is reduced to one of the least charismatic performances I’ve ever seen from an Oscar-winning performer, while Pom Klementieff (Mantis from the MCU) is saddled with a mono-expressive stuntwoman performance, and Bobby Cannavale’s villain somehow feels flatter than his performance in Jumanji 2, which was intended as a satire of flat villains in the first place.
This acting really contributes overall to the feel that this movie was just intended as a cynical cash-grab with no effort put behind it. Superhero performances have come a long way since the dark days of the early 2000’s, but with this movie, I would rather watch a good superhero actor like Kevin Conroy read a phone book than watch these flat, ugly performances that took no effort whatsoever.

For the second-last bit, let’s talk audience – I have no idea who this movie is for.
- It’s not for Melissa McCarthy fans – unlike her previous films, it’s not R-rated or possessing much for her to do creatively
- It’s not for superhero fans, for reasons I’ll discuss in the next paragraph.
- It’s not for adults, as it’s too baseline and predictable for them to enjoy
- It’s not for kids, as it’s full of boring exposition and jokes that would go right over their heads.
The lack of focus on any of these areas is so troubling, as it speaks more to a company simply putting out a product to please everyone and no-one simultaneously. It seems to be going for kiddy thrills, as it could be one of those made for kids inspire-them-to-science-and-being-themselves films with a ton of silly slapstick that annoys adults. Hell, they even play Fortnite at one point (and they still screw it up – they play it at only 15 frames per second despite the fact that their location has great internet and it’s impossible to play Fortnite at 15 FPS).
But the film is ultimately too boring and disinteresting for children, including a very bizarre seduction scene that somehow ended up in the annoying void between sanitised and sexy. It speaks yards about the lack of care behind this film.
Finally, I want to speak about the place of this film in the overall superhero genre. The premise of this movie – all superheroes being sociopaths until someone gets hurt by them and fights back – is essentially The Boys but with less satire. If you compare The Boys and Thunder Force, however, The Boys outstrips it in every sense of being a superhero story. It’s compelling, it presents a unique take on the genre, and it feels like the ones who made it actually had a vision and a care for the product they made. If you take that away, you’re left with the baseline premise for a superhero story which has been done before, and nothing else.
Thunder Force fails to differentiate itself as its own movie, or its own superhero story. Moreover, nothing about it feels super – boring, restrained, easy, whatever. The MCU, DC, Hancock, even Fant4stic – even if they might not be good, they add to the superhero genre by trying to break the heroes down in a unique way. Thunder Force cannot do that, and so fails to stand out as a modern superhero film.

This is what comes up first if you type in Thunder Force on Google images.
In short? This film is hands down one of the worst superhero films I’ve ever seen. It may be slightly better than Fant4stic, or Batman and Robin, but when it comes to my end-of-year round-up, this better be at the bottom.
Thunder Force is getting a big fat F.
Don’t watch this film. Watch The Boys – you actually get bang for your buck on that one.
Komentáře