Just when I thought Zack Synder's Justice League had cemented how creatively bankrupt superhero movies have become, here comes Thunder Force to bring the genre down yet another peg.
The new Netflix film starring Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer could have, and perhaps aimed to, subvert some of the genre's cliches -- but besides the unconventional casting of the two actresses, this movie does absolutely nothing new and does it with barely any laughs.
It's all particularly disappointing because McCarthy and Spencer are two of Hollywood's most likable and under-appreciated talents, and they deserve so much better. McCarthy, whose husband Ben Falcone wrote this film, directed it and appears in a small role, does lots of her patented physical humor and struggles mightily to supply emotional pathos but there's nothing fresh or interesting about what she is doing here. In movies like Spy she actually played a real character, here she's an underachiever and a big Chicago sports fan, and that's about it.
Spencer fairs even worse, serving for most of the film as a humorless straight man to McCarthy. The two characters are supposed to be playing estranged best friends but they simply don't have the chemistry and camaraderie to sell it. In fact, most of the 'laughs' are limited to Jason Bateman's role as a potential villain with lobster arms. And his one-joke role lands flat.
And that doesn't even begin to scratch surface. The plot is one of the most mind-numblingly dumb superhero plots I've ever seen, something superheroes who behave badly called Miscreants (a word that is said seemingly 600 times throughout the inane script). I have no idea if this film was every intended for the big screen, but it looks cheap and shoddy, even for a Netflix film.
Much ink has been spilled about the mixed to miserable results of McCarthy numerous collaborations with her husband and it's rough when a movie like this doesn't even make it's odder, more inside-y jokes work (like a gross, unfunny running gag about raw meat). The movie ends with a crowd chanting the duo self-appointed moniker -- Thunder Force -- and then a post credit sequence that also begins with the rote chanting of the title.
I suppose we are meant to find this infectious -- that the name will become an irresistible earworm, but it's just dull and never funny no matter how hard McCarthy and co try. I am all for a big dumb comedy -- McCarthy's Bridesmaids co-star Kristen Wiig hit it out of the park with one, her recent Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (which almost removes the stink of Wiig's performance in Wonder Woman 1984).
I have no doubt McCarthy will do plenty of better films -- she is a wonderful actress besides being a great comedian -- and in the right role there's no one quite like her. But this is her coasting at best. Octavia Spencer seems to be in a more challenging spot. She's gone wildly campy with Ma, returned to grounded work with Luce and is clearly trying to broaden her persona here too -- but she doesn't have a single moment to shine. Her character's an uptight drag who mostly tries to reign in McCarthy when she's trying to be funny. What did she see in this part? This is an Oscar winner, is this the best Hollywood can offer her?
I'm honestly stunned by how bad, cynical and lazy this movie was. By all means skip it. And if you're trying to get a superhero fix check out The Boys instead on Amazon Prime. That show tackles the idea of rogue superheroes much more effectively and hilariously than any moment in Thunder Force does.
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