My Review of "Thunder Force"

Thunder Force is Netflix's most recent 2021 release this week and for once I was able to check it out the day that it came out. There are a lot of naysayers that claim that the movie industry is oversaturated with superhero movies already. I would have to say yeah you're right in a way but you don't have to watch them if you're not into them. This superhero movie is looking at superhero movies in a different direction.

The movie starts off with an origin story of how people started getting powers. In this world some sort of meteor hit earth and those with sociopathic tendencies somehow got lucky and got superpowers. The problem is that they're all using it for their own personal gain. We see a bus full of people getting blasted by some cosmic ray.

Two of the victims of the bus happened to be parents of a girl named Emily. She loses both her parents and vows revenge for the atrocities made by the super villains known as Miscreants. Emily is a very driven girl and she'll stop at nothing to get her revenge. Unfortunately for her she's only a little girl. At such a young age it's hard to push yourself with bullies and whatnot in your way at school.

Luckily for Emily she meets another girl named Lydia. As kids Lydia was one of the bigger kids but she didn't like how bully's were harassing Emily. She sticks up for Emily and before long they two become good friends. This is probably some of the best parts of the movie and I wish they took more time on this portion of the movie.

Unfortunately there was a falling out and the two separate to their own lives. Without giving away too much the two get back together but with superpowers. Now they can fulfill their promise together as children to rid the world of Miscreants.

There are a lot of highs and lows to this movie. It definitely has its moments where I would laugh out loud at how ridiculous the movie was but then there were some lull moments in there as well. It's pretty 50-50.

The good thing is that it isn't really your conventional superhero movie. In its heart it really is a movie about friendship and relationships with one another. I loved the moments where Lydia and Emily were together because I think the two have a funny and dynamic relationship with one another.

On the other hand this movie has a lot of 80's references that younger audiences will not necessarily understand. I was astounded at how many 80's references they were mentioning. It's almost as if this movie was made for a certain age group. Watching these references, I could see how a lot of people would just not get it. I'm not sure why they used so many specific references when they're trying to target a general audience.

Melissa McCarthy is in this movie so you're also going to expect a lot of sight gags and I have to say she delivers. I don't know what it is about this woman but she can have me in hysterics in a matter of minutes. She's got that Kevin Hart charm to her but in her own way. It's so authentically hers much like Will Farrell has his own style of comedy. You know a Melissa McCarthy comedy if you see one. I'm a big fan but I know a lot of people aren't exactly into it. If you're a Melissa McCarthy fan you know what I mean and you will probably watch this movie regardless of what I say.

I thought the first half of this movie was done pretty well but the last half of it was kind of lacking a little. It's too bad too because I was hoping for big things by the end of the movie but it kind of dies out with a whimper. It's not entirely bad but it wasn't really exciting either.

Overall, I moderately liked this movie but the last half of the movie was a bit of a slog. I wished they put more emphasis on the relationship with Lydia and Emily because that would have been more fun. Then again if they did that then this movie wouldn't necessarily need to be a superhero movie. I have to give this movie a 6 out of 10. I wouldn't go out and recommend it to my friends but if they saw it I might chat them up about some parts of the movie if I could remember the details by then.