Thunder Force

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Thunder Force follows estranged friends, Lydia and Emily, who manage to reconnect after one develops a formula for superhuman abilities. Working together to become heroes, the pair band together to protect Chicago from the evil powered foes known as 'Miscreants'. While this film never had much going for it I liked that it took the time to have fun with the loose world building it had established. Toying with superpowers and the unique character personalities that came from a superhero film led to some entertaining moments scattered within the feature.

 

Taylor Mosby, who played Tracy, is clearly a very talented up and coming young performer who really pushes herself more than this film deserves; Mosby has this real sense of joy and wonder at being part of creating and developing a superhero team which makes her one of the more genuine roles in the film.

However, the best performance came from Jason Bateman, who played The Crab. This is a morally grey role who is a little sleazy mixed in with some charm; a place Bateman has been strong in before. I find with more outlandish characters who have a certain antagonistic quality to them Bateman really leans in to them without pushing it too far, he commits hard to the essence of the thing he is playing. The Crab is fun because he isn't necessarily the most imposing supervillain, in fact he's more of a cowardly lapdog to the big crime boss. But the way the film plays him against both the big bad and the heroes makes his polarising personality a treat to watch. Bateman also has a lot of fun being the charming object of McCarthy's affections in the film, becoming the bad seed worthy of redemption in a fun if not inevitable twist in the plot. 

Thunder Force is the superhero film no one either wanted nor asked for, with so much outdated content and writing it felt like watching a bad blockbuster from the early 2000s. Any moment that the film wants you to take seriously is so devoid of real emotion that it's impossible to connect or the scene is ridiculously put together. The start of the film frames things in a very convenient way to give only bad people powers, pushing our protagonist to 'make' their own superhuman abilities. A strange plot-holed origin to the film that gives a strong indication that the easy will be taken at any chance this film gets. The film relies heavily on the friendship between Lydia and Emily, the two protagonist who jump from being estranged to not in the blink of an eye. This pair have little chemistry together and watching the film revolve around them just mildly talking to one another before launching into poorly choreographed fight or pratfall scenes is extremely dull. The film also has the most generic supervillain plotline revolving around a criminal tycoon trying to edge in on city politics while controlling the most powerful supervillain henchmen. The film is extremely disinterested in exploring a good plot, often why the story of the film comes across as boring or generic; instead it always shoots to be more of a comedy. The problem? The film struggles to be funny when Jason Bateman isn't onscreen. There is a moment in Thunder Force where a minor character fails a knock knock joke remarks that he realises it wasn't funny and then proceeds to fail retelling the joke four more times. I couldn't think of a more apt metaphor for the nature of the comedy presented to the audience in the film. The cinematography isn't very appealing and takes to a very simple style, never making an effort to shoot for more. The special effects utilised throughout the feature are shockingly bad, closer to the expectation I'd have for a bad superhero TV show than a film. The score for the film isn't really present and fades very far into the background, while the soundtrack is a mismatched jumble of attempted moments of comedy.

Melissa McCarthy, who played Lydia Berman, showed up to this movie to be funny and had no interest in acting; McCarthy's entire performance seems undercut by her need to drop one-liners or perform impressions that often take away from a scene and fall flat. Octavia Spencer, who played Emily Stanton, is such a dull performance that fails to find any real emotional arc or grounded character motivation; Spencer flounders in the comedic scenes of the feature making her a strange casting choice for this type of film. Bobby Cannavale, who played The King, just doesn't have the imposing presence required to be the intimidating main antagonist; Cannavale often feels like he has the air taken out of him just as he's hitting his stride and never rises to truly strike fear like his role is implied to be capable of. Pom Klementieff, who played Laser, is a generic femme fatale hechwoman ( as the film even has the gall to point out); Klementieff''s role is paper thin with no guiding motivation and zero personality beyond blind obedience and a desire to kill. Melissa Leo, who played Allie, is very much awkwardly wedged into the feature and never really justifies being there; Leo is this stern figure with way too much power in developing the superhero team given her role is never really defined nor even explained to the audience. Ben Falcone, who played Kenny, has found yet another way to wedge himself into a terrible role in one of his own features; Falcone has no ability to deliver comedy and is allowed to be present in this film for longer than is ever really necessary. Bria Danielle, Tai Leshaun, Vivian Falcone and Mia Kaplan, who played Young Emily, Teen Emily, Young Lydia and Teen Lydia respectively, all have the responsibility to introduce us to the leading roles and define the background of their relationship; this is a task which is failed miserably and leads to the defining relationship of the film coming across as little more than boring.

This is a superhero film that looks closer to a CW TV show episode and is far less capable of humour or heart. I would give Thunder Force a 1.5/10.