Thunder Force on Netflix takes place in a world where cosmic rays have given people superpowers, but only those with sociopathic tendencies, resulting in a world of supervillains known as Miscreants. Through a series of events, regular gal Lydia Berman (played by Melissa McCarthy) ends up being accidentally injected with a superhero strength formula created by her genius former high school friend Emily Stanton (Octavia Spencer). The two become superheroes in order to thwart the Miscreant menace. On the whole, I enjoyed myself, but the film isn't perfect.
On the plus side, the world and basic plot work well enough. There are some pretty good jokes in this, including a few laugh out loud ones.
As is often the case, the villains are more fun than the leads. Hands down, the best character in this is Jason Bateman's The Crab, the charismatic, level-headed one. He steals every scene he's in and the actor, who usually plays the straight man, seems to be down for anything and having the time of his life. Guardians of the Galaxy's Pom Klementieff is also good as the psychotic Laser.
On the negative side, for there are also a lot of lousy jokes in this. This is directed and written by McCarthy's husband Ben Falcone. As I've noticed in the unfunny opening of their The Boss and which has been the general criticism of their other films, the couple working with each other results in the inability to make the tough calls and a lack of restraint. A lot of the bad jokes suffer from no editing and being stretched too long. Some of them may've been funny if they'd been one and done. Luckily, the worse stuff happens during Lydia's training/exposition period. It's choppy waters for a while, but the sailing is pretty clear once it's over.
This film can be frustrating at points, but I felt the good parts out-weighted the bad. It's worth taking a chance on.
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