A Very McCarthy Movie
Audiences should know exactly what to expect when they see Melissa McCarthy as the lead in a movie written and directed by Ben Falcone. The husband-and-wife duo have teamed up for Tammy, Life of the Party, and The Boss. Their most recent project is the Netflix hosted, superhero comedy farce, Thunder Force.
The premise of the film is that a meteor hit the earth and gave a small portion of the population super powers. The problem is that the brains that are prone to sociopathic behavior were the ones who got the powers. They became known as miscreants. As the movie opens, we meet Emily (Octavia Spencer) and Lydia (McCarthy) in their younger days. They are an odd pairing because Lydia is a brute who hates studying and Emily is a super smart student.
They go their own ways a few years later and the film flashes forward to their adulthood. Lydia drives a forklift on the shipping docks. Emily has gone on to massive success as a tech entrepreneur, trying to forward her parents’ research project to give powers to normal humans. Naturally, she succeeds. Lydia botches the whole thing and winds up getting the super strength. Emily gets invisibility.
There is a long training montage as Lydia learns how to control her powers. The well-studied Emily seems to know right away. She did develop them after all. The movie is okay and kinda funny until the two go on their first mission. They break up a liquor store robbery by a group of thugs led by The Crab (Jason Bateman.) The sheer ridiculousness of Bateman’s claw-handed villain and his instant affection for Lydia provide some of the movie’s best laughs.
All of this is happening while two candidates are vying for the mayorship of Chicago. Bobby Cannavale plays The King, who is naturally a criminal behind the scenes and the leader of the Miscreants. The Crab handles most of his henchmen and the low risk, out of the spotlight crimes. Laser (Pom Klementieff) is far more high-profile. She’s also a homicidal maniac.
The King goes through henchmen left and right, making for some really silly moments between the big fights. Taylor Mosby is wonderful as Emily’s daughter, Tracy. She steals every scene she’s in.
Thunder Force doesn’t break any new ground. It picks at tons of comic book superhero tropes and like most of the McCarthy/Falcone films, it knows exactly what it is. It sticks to formulaic jokes and McCarthy’s penchant for physical comedy. It’s an hour and 47 minutes of the schtick that this pair has delivered for years with a couple of high points thanks mostly to Bateman.