If it’s well written and has a point, I can enjoy a comedy, even if it doesn’t make me laugh. Do I hate Thunder Force because I only laughed twice through the entirety of it’s one hour and forty-seven-minute runtime? No. I hate it because it has a decent premise, a decent foundation for drama but makes comedy such a priority that the premise and drama are cast aside. The result is pretty dull.

Childhood friends Lydia (Melissa McCarthy) and Emily (Octavia Spencer) reunite in adulthood to become a superhero duo thanks to a biochemical formula invented by Emily.

The Characters

From the very beginning Thunder Force clearly wants you to care for its two leads and the drama that separates them in their teen years. We learn that Emily wants to turn herself into a superhero so she can avenge her parents, who were killed by a breed of superpowered vigilantes known as the miscreants. Lydia on the other hand just wants to be by Emily’s side and have fun. These opening scenes aren’t bad, they actually get you invested.

So what happened?

We reach modern day and witness Lydia and Emily reuniting. Initially their interactions are a bit awkward but when their superhero training commences, their sisterly chemistry reinvigorates. Beyond that, their relationship doesn’t really endure any turbulence. They have arguments but nothing a short dramatic speech and some ad lib can’t resolve. Most of the time they’re just mouthpieces for witty banter. Any interest or empathy you had for them in the beginning will have totally evaporated by the half-way mark. You know they’re going to be fine. You know they’re going to learn something profound about being a hero but at that point you won’t care.

If you’re a fan of Melissa McCarthy and her style of comedy then that won’t be a problem, although you will realise that comedy is all that Thunder Force has to offer and to someone who isn’t a fan of Melissa McCarthy’s humour, that is a big problem. I honestly don’t mind that I only laughed twice during the film. It’s humour just isn’t my cup of tea but I can’t forgive the film for failing to make me care for the characters.

The World-building

As if the plot’s lack of intriguing conflict didn’t vaporise enough tension, Thunder Force’s world-building raises so many questions that it’s really hard not to just give up on the film being anything remotely interesting.

In the opening, we learn that the miscreants gained their powers from a cosmic ray that hit the earth and caused a genetic mutation in certain people. Ok, makes sense. Those certain people however are sociopaths. The cosmic ray can only transform sociopaths. How? Why? It’s never explained. A ray that turns people into supervillains, while interesting, is an idea that needs a lot of time and research to write believably. Thunder Force didn’t do that.

Later in the film, when Lydia and Emily begin their training, more plot holes emerge. Emily’s power is invisibility. How she is able to achieve this at will is never explained. The fact that her clothes turn invisible with her is not even acknowledged.

After finishing their training, their first mission involves a direct confrontation with one of the miscreants. When they reach the scene of the crime (in a high-tech car they’ve never driven), they deploy their powers in ways never shown. In their training all they did was exercise their powers; turn invisible, throw things across the room, hit punch mitts. They never learn how to specifically take on a miscreant. You’re just supposed to assume that they did as they have no trouble fighting one.

Overall, Thunder Force is a film about people you don’t care about, enduring trials and tribulations you know they can survive, in a world with little logic and consistency. If you’re a Melissa McCarthy fan, then her ad libbed, pop culture-referencing brand of humour will get you through it. It didn’t get me through it, so if you’re not a fan, skip it.

I give Thunder Force a poor 3 out of 10.