Photo courtesy of GamesRadar
“Thunder Force” is a superhero adventure comedy that emphasizes the importance of having strong bonds with friends and family.
The movie focuses on best friends, Lydia (Melissa McCarthy) and Emily (Octavia Spencer). People with false intentions and armed with superpowers, known as “Miscreants,” are slowly taking over Chicago. Because of her past, Emily is determined to create a way for ordinary people to develop superpowers to stop the Miscreants.
While Lydia and Emily have totally opposite personalities, they still are best friends – at least until conflict ensues. when a high school reunion changes everything. Emily goes to Lydia’s workplace, Stanton 4.0, and accidentally takes the only super strength formula Emily created. Wanting to stop Miscreants from making their hometown more dangerous, Emily and Lydia become a superhero duo called Thunder Force.
The best part of “Thunder Force” was the personalities behind Lydia and Emily. The movie emphasizes Emily’s own backstory and merges it with Emily’s expectations of making an impact on the world. As for Emily, her characterization of being the crazy and eccentric friend is spot on. McCarthy did a great portrayal of Lydia.
The strong friendship between Emily and Lydia can been seen as the two grow from acquaintances in middle school to best friends in high school. It can also be seen of the inclusion of Emily in Lydia’s family.
Emily and Lydia’s characterization in the movie was the best part of the film. On the other hand, “Thunder Force” offers unnecessary and predictable scenes. McCarthy and Spencer, as a duo, brought enjoyable comedy and action sequences to the film.
The main premise of the film followed the recycled storyline of ordinary people turning into superheroes. “Thunder Force” offered no more creative writing than it did in its unnecessary scenes. However, it was filled with accomplished actors such as McCarthy and Spencer.
Another great point of the film was the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. The inclusion can be seen in small details of the film like when Lydia and Emily are fighting an enemy, there’s a small child who refers to two men as her dads. It can also be seen when both friends visit Emily’s grandmother.
These positive aspects made up for the lack of well-written and creative scenes in “Thunder Force.” The movie was well made in terms of its cast, but not so much in terms of the way it was written. Despite this, “Thunder Force” still offers heart-warming and comforting ideas of inclusion of community as well as close relationships.
