Thunder Force

Ben Falcone

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman, Bobby Cannavale, Taylor Mosby

So to clarify straight off the bat, this isn't technically a review. I didn't finish this film, but that is exactly why I felt I needed to talk about it.

It is a very irregular occurrence that I switch a film off part way through. I've never walked out of the cinema and the only film that I can recall giving up on is the 2019 "film" Cats.

I am not for one second saying that Thunder Force is as bad as Cats, and maybe this isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be, but I found it rather insufferable.

I'm baffled that a terrific comedy performer like Melissa McCarthy, or Oscar winner like Octavia Spencer would even agree to associate themselves with this. I believe both actresses are excellent but a bad script here has not done them any favours.

The main issue is the target audience. This feels like it was made for kids, but I'm not even sure it would have sustained their attention. It uses a lot of expletives too which made me wonder if this was aimed for adults.

I didn't have any fun with this and comedy set pieces were weird and uncomfortable. I will mention that the moment I turned off was when Jason Bateman arrived with crab claws (I'd love to explain why but I'm clueless).

I truly stand by that no filmmaker sets out to make a bad film. At some point Ben Falcone must have believed in this story, but this feels nothing more than a money grab for the actors, and an easy choice for Netflix.

You may be the sadistic type who is getting giddy with excitement as they read this, ready to engulf themselves in a blockbuster mess, and to that I say good luck; you have been warned!

Thunder Force available now on Netflix