With the film garnering over 50 million views since its release April 9, I was interested to see what “Thunder Force” was all about since it had an interesting plot and a strong cast. When I finished watching the comedy film, I was left amused, but at the same time a bit disappointed. 

The film is based on two childhood best friends, Emily Stanton (Octavia Spencer) and Lydia Berman (Melissa McCarthy). Stanton’s parents were killed by miscreants who are people identified as sociopaths and criminals turned into villains with powers. Her thirst for revenge has led her to create a formula to give ordinary people power. Berman reunites with the now middle-aged Stanton and they both end up gaining superpowers. They form a team to defeat the miscreants. 

The movie starts off with a flashback looking into the start with Stanton at a new school after her parents were killed. She then meets with Berman and they instantly become best friends. They grow up, but due to a fight, they lose contact with each other until their eventual reunion in adulthood. Berman, who is supposed to be the clumsy and funny one in the movie, ends up getting into an accident by touching random things in the lab, which causes her to have superpowers. 

I found Berman’s character to be somewhat funny throughout the movie. There were only a few times where I laughed out loud, and were some points where I was bored and found the jokes to be unfunny. A comedy movie about two middle-aged women gaining superpowers would give something interesting to watch, but a handful of scenes fell flat.

Stanton definitely added moments of comedy, but fits the scientist archetype much more often. When both women gained their powers, it was exciting to watch how they would use it. But for a comedy movie, I would have wished for more clever jokes. The rest of the film was simple and there wasn’t much character development for Stanton or Berman. I also would have wished for more action since it is a superhero movie.  

Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie and laughed hard at some jokes. I love the concept of two older women having superpowers. Although it didn’t meet the standards of the superhero movies produced by Marvel or DC, it was still a fun, average movie to watch and I definitely got some laughs out of it. 

“Thunder Force”: ★★★☆☆