Director: Ben Falcone

Story By: Ben Falcone

Cast: Octavia Spencer, Melissa McCarthy, Taylor Mosby, Jason Bateman, Bobby Cannavale, & Pom Klementieff

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I was really hoping for something different than what I found myself watching. I couldn’t even stay up and watch the entire film. I took a nap then returned to it…I mean, SO disappointing and it had so much promise at the start to be quite honest. 

What in the hell is going on with these dumb, bad comedy movies lately? First it was #BarbAndStar, then it was #Coming2America, and now this… like, seriously. Are folks just taking advantage of streaming services and big names to release all of their experimental shyt? 

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Below are my grades for key components in #ThunderForce that I find to be key in any story/film—Theme, Plot, Pacing, and Character Arc/Development. 

Additionally, I have added an entertainment factor scale to help you determine whether or not the film is something you’d be interested in taking time out of your weekend, evening, or day to watch. The scale range consists of: Worth the Watch, Interesting Enough (if looking for something new to start), & Don’t Rush.

I have also added a few non-spoiling thoughts, wonderings, and comments as I watched the film to help give some rationale for my grades and entertainment scale.

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Theme: B

Plot: C-

Pacing: A-

Character Arc/Development: D

General Entertainment Factor: Don’t Rush

Film Enthusiast Entertainment Factor: Don’t Rush

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TAKEAWAYS:

1. Firstly, the cinematography was really good. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

2. As mentioned in my introduction, I literally smiled at the start of the film because the premise looked SO promising. It was like taking Amazon Prime’s Bad Boys, but making it lighter with more comedy and a family friendly purpose. I was SO ready for this ride. 😩

3. The issue, to me, was McCarthy’s character. The direction for Lydia went left so quick for the sake of comedy which seemed to be too exaggerated and blatant for me vs natural. 👀🥴👎🏾

4. A theme that seemed to be carried through via Lydia and Emily’s characters was around “seriousness”—learning to not take things so serious all the time, and learning when to take things more seriously. This was actually pretty solid, although I felt that it was a little forced once we got to adult Lydia and Emily…again, for the sake of comedy. 🥴👍🏾

5. You know…I actually liked Bobby Cannavale’s character…I also just love his voice. 😩🥰👍🏾

6. The plot, though there was so much more potential based on the exposition, was actually interesting. The exaggerated comedy is what messes up the plot, and as mentioned with point #3, there was very apparent time given to McCarthy to be this comedic figure that started to feel random and unnecessary throughout the plot. Did we need the cereal moment? The “date” and Old Bay moment? That long ass conversation with the diner owner moment? All for her to be comedic vs helping to develop her character? 🤦🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️

7. Also, to point #6, who was the diner man? Maybe I missed it, but he felt so randomly important to the characters and was given SOOOO much time. 🤨🤷🏾‍♂️

8. The “twist” was so obvious after the first, “I’ll be right back…” like… wow. 🤦🏾‍♂️

9. Pacing was actually nice. It’s the moments that are given to Lydia’s character for comedy that sort of mess things up. 🥴

10. I loved the interaction between The Crab and The King with the crew. Those were subtle, funny, and cute to me. 👍🏾

11. As already touched on a few times in other points, the character arc/development seemed to fall to the wayside for the sake of giving space for McCarthy’s comedic moments. There were only 2 moments that were used to add tension to Lydia’s and Emily’s development, and those moments weren’t big enough to really reach the positive arc we get at the end. Especially for Lydia’s character! Where were her moments to reflect and battle with coming to her clearer understanding? 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

12. Come through Chicago Love! 🙌🏾

13. Honestly, I was so disappointed that Octavia would allow herself to be part of this…but her storyline was actually good and safe from critique. 👍🏾

14. Wait, so no one knew any of those references from Lydia? I can understand the daughter being lost, but not the rest of them. Even if Emily was implied to be more of a bookworm than a pop culture child, I’m sure she couldn’t ignore any of the 1990s fads in her school AND being friends with Lydia…so that didn’t make sense. 🤨🤨🤦🏾‍♂️

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Overall, #ThunderForce is Kick Ass-meets-The Boys-meets-Senseless-meets Blankman. The start of this movie will have you ready for something very fun and creative. Instead, if you stick it out, you’ll end up experiencing just extreme silliness with an attempt to be intentional. I really wished it was much more than it was.