Netflix has released a fictional superhero movie based on two best friends who reunite as a crime fighting duo. This movie shows how people can reconnect old relationships with others and do something great.
“Thunder Force” is directed by Ben Falcone and the actors include Melisa Mcarthy (Lydia), comedian and fashion designer, Octavia Spencer (Emily), known for “Hidden Figures” and “The Help,” Taylor Mosby (Tracy), known for “The Last OG,” Tyrell Jackson (Jessie) known for “Lab Rats,” Jason Bateman (Jerry) known for “Horrible Bosses 1” and “Horrible Bosses 2,” Bobby Cannavale (The King) known for “Boardwalk Empire, and Pom Klementieff (Laser) known for “Black Mirror” and “Guardians of The Galaxy.”
The movie starts with a couple, who viewers later find out are the main character, Emily's parents.The couple is sitting on a train when a blue laser beam aims at the train and destroys it, killing everyone on it, including Emily's parents. A couple of days later, while at school, Emily runs into a bully, Wayne. He makes evil jokes about her parents’ death. Lydia sees this and decides to come over and confront Wayne. He then decides to joke about her, resulting in Lydia punching him in the face and forcing him to get in the dumpster. Emily and Lydia walk to the swing after the altercation and begin to spark a conversation. Emily mentions her parents were working on developing something to turn regular citizens into superheroes.
Emily begins to look into her parents' research about superhuman abilities, continuing where her parents left off. While in high school, Emily and Lydia have a fallout. After Lydia fails to wake Emily up, causing Emily to argue with her and say she never is there for her. They go their separate ways and stop talking to each other. More than 20 years later, Lydia and Emily reunite on the day of their high school reunion at Emily's facility, named Stanton 4.0. They begin talking about the past and what they are currently doing. After Emily walks away to check on something, Lydia walks into a room and uses switches and buttons that put her in a chair and injects her with a serum by mistake. Emily saw her and was scared, but then she realized what she had worked on for five years was used because of a mistake.
In the plot, since Lydia has already been injected with the serum, she has to go through 33 days of treatment. During the treatment period, Lydia has not eaten, so Emily brings her raw chicken, knowing that it will not cause any problems with her body during the treatment. While training, Lydia sees Emily taking pills and Emily reveals she is going through the treatment too, but for a different super power. After taking 30 pills, Emily gains the ability to be invisible. Lydia has a different power other than super strength, the ability to super jump. After training, the duo decides it is time to fight villains on the streets of Chicago. Now the problem is that they have no name. While brainstorming, Tracy thinks of “Thunder Force” and they all agree with the name.
The Thunder Force gets news that a guy named Jerry is holding up a store. The team rushes to the store, only to be welcomed with chaos and Jerry, who has crab arms. Thunder Force attends the mayor’s announcement in Chicago only to be watched by a former candidate running for mayor, King. King is furious seeing that they are trying to stop him from becoming mayor but he has a trick up his sleeve. Later on, King gives a speech at a meeting. Following his plans, the Thunder Force finds out he is trying to set off a bomb that would kill thousands of people.
In the final showdown of the movie, The Miscreants and King go head to head with Thunder Force. Lydia beats King until he is weak until he surprisingly throws her out of the window. In the midst of the brawl, Emily and Laser begin fighting. Laser zaps her a couple of times, but Emily shoots her with an orb that comes out a gadget on her arm. Emily notices that King has Lydia in a tight bearhug, not letting her go. Jerry stands up to The King and gets his claws ripped off. Tracy shows up in a gray suit with super powers, together the trio defeats King and they then remember that the bomb is ticking. Lydia sees that there is no way to stop this bomb from killing people so she jumps out of the window and the bomb blows up. Emily and Tracy arrive at the scene thinking that Lydia is dead and begin crying. Lydia wakes up and it surprises everyone around them. The citizens and police cheer them on and the movie ends.
Overall, the comedy in this movie was subpar. Most of the scenes are unfunny or corny, leaving viewers confused and bored. An example of a poorly written scene in the movie is when Emily and Lydia were on their way to stop the robbery at a store. Both of the characters try to get in a sports car, not being able to fit in the car. Lydia makes a corny joke on their way in, “Oh boy, I really haven’t driven this one.” Hinting that she was too overweight to fit in the car.
Although “Thunder Force” is a superhero movie, it provides another perspective of friendship. This movie receives a rating of 5/10 for its unfunny humor. “Thunder Force” is only available on Netflix.