Thunder Force
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): April 9, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
20
Negative:
14
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsApr 12, 2021
Thunder Force is another of McCarthy’s collaborations with her partner, Ben Falcone (who has a small role), and bears all the effortless likability of a well-oiled machine, which cannot help but feel like a real limit on what McCarthy et. al. are capable of while also making a great case for how watchable these actors are when they lean in to being a little washed, a little lo-fi. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 9, 2021
Thunder Force drags until roughly its last third, and then something remarkable happens: its gonzo spirit kicks in. From that point on, Thunder Force feels crazily, joltingly alive, as if it were realizing, a little too late, that it ought to have been a different movie altogether. Read full review
60
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeApr 9, 2021
This shaggy superhero spoof doesn’t consistently live up to its best moments, but at least those moments are there, with most of them stemming from the hilarious interplay between McCarthy and Octavia Spencer. Read full review
60
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 9, 2021
Good-natured, soft-hearted, a little lazy, and propelledby the relentless charisma of Melissa McCarthy when all else fails, this Netflix production makes for cozy pandemic at-home viewing with scant thrills but a couple of genuinely funny moments. Read full review
58
ConsequenceBlake GobleApr 9, 2021
Better than My Super-Ex Girlfriend, sloppier than Hancock, it’s nothing dynamic but fun all the same. And frankly, not every superhero flick or comedy needs to be the Super-person of its domain. Likability is sometimes an underrated super-power, and Thunder Force is bursting with it. Read full review
50
UproxxMike RyanApr 15, 2021
It’s hard to tell what this movie is trying to be, and end the end just kind of becomes just another superhero movie, despite Jason Bateman’s best attempts at preventing that. I swear, someday, someone will nail one of these premises. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 9, 2021
The likability of Lydia and Emily helps, but writer-director Ben Falcone’s tendency to milk emotion that isn’t there drags down the movie and some of the comic bits feel obvious and pushed. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyApr 9, 2021
The movie comes to life any time the actors are given space to mess around. It's just not enough to hold the whole thing together. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyApr 9, 2021
With such powerhouses as McCarthy and Spencer at the helm, it's a surprise that so much of the film is inert, rote, conventional. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanApr 9, 2021
In general le cinéma de Falcone is not a pretty (or hilarious) thing. Thunder Force is, at best, more a light chuckler than a laugher. Read full review
50
IndieWireKate ErblandApr 9, 2021
While McCarthy and Spencer do their damndest to make the family-friendly feature work — McCarthy in particular brings real texture to her charming slacker with a heart of gold, a role she’s played so many times before — Thunder Force isn’t clever enough to break new ground in the superhero milieu, nor is it silly enough to mine its material for the kind of jokes that would make it distinctive. Read full review
46
PolygonTasha RobinsonApr 15, 2021
Thunder Force is only occasionally insightful, and almost never surprising. It’s arriving in a world where people generally expect more from its genre than light, enjoyable performances and a handful of overstretched gags, and that’s all it has to offer. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeApr 9, 2021
Overall, the comedy in Thunder Force is apathetic and airless, no matter how hard McCarthy tries. Read full review
40
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelApr 9, 2021
Thunder Force has too good of a core idea to be left so unexplored. Melissa McCarty can’t be stopped, but she continues to be content making films that leave her talent frustratingly untapped. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenApr 9, 2021
With its bland positivity (regular people can be superheroes!), flimsy-bordering-on-indifferent plotting and Post-it-note-deep characters, that leaves the bits and shtick to buoy Falcone's screenplay. They're hit-and-miss, but it's definitely the off-track digressions where the film sparks to life. Read full review
40
Total FilmPaul BradshawApr 9, 2021
With a super-spoof that’s occasionally funny but always forgettable, the Melissa McCarthy-verse falls flat at Phase One. Read full review
40
EmpireBeth WebbApr 9, 2021
Spencer and McCarthy are the superheroes we deserve, but are capable of so much more than bowel-movement jokes in this tepid and formulaic buddy romp. Read full review
40
Screen RantRachel LaBonteApr 9, 2021
Its leading ladies are in fine form, as always, and they're backed by some lively performers. It's the story that struggles to come through, along with a reluctance to just let loose in every way possible. Read full review
40
IGNKristy PuchkoApr 9, 2021
Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer have sparkling screen presence, but can’t thrive under Ben Falcone’s utter lack of vision. Thunder Force doesn’t work as a superhero movie or a buddy comedy, as it refuses to revel in the big moments of either. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 9, 2021
This is by-the-numbers stuff, not quite funny enough for comedy or having enough of the crazed seriousness that marks out a successful superhero franchise. Read full review
39
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpApr 9, 2021
But there’s so much done wrong as the film tries to be funny that when it is funny, the funniness goes down like a bitter pill: Why can’t it be good all the time? Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 9, 2021
It’s always a shame when a group of talented humans get together and deliver something that comes across as a halfhearted effort, even if they poured their blood, sweat and tears into it. Read full review
30
SlateSam AdamsApr 13, 2021
Watching Thunder Force, it’s baffling to remember that this is Falcone’s fifth film as a director. There’s a convenience store fight so ineptly staged I had to watch it three times to decipher what was happening, and running gags that aren’t funny the first time and grow worse with every repetition. Read full review
30
We Got This CoveredAsher LubertoApr 12, 2021
Despite the best efforts of McCarthy, and a winsome Spencer as her sidekick, Thunder Force is more like Shazam! Lite. It wants us to laugh at genre tropes, but this crude and unoriginal dreck is just comedy Kryptonite. Read full review
30
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzApr 9, 2021
With the exception of a few demented scenes teleported over from a stranger, better comedy . . . Thunder Force is as sloppy and disappointing as the label “A Ben Falcone Film” previously suggested. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 12, 2021
Belly-flopping into the superhero movie pool, Thunder Force illustrates what happens when filmmakers take a moderately interesting premise and surround it with witless writing, cringe-inducing acting, stagnant action, humor-deprived comedy, and feckless drama. Read full review
25
The PlaylistMike DeAngeloApr 9, 2021
Bad characters? Check! Well-worn, uninventive plot? Check! Forced physical comedy? Check! A big-budget and no oversight? Check! Put all of that together, and what do you get? Another bad Netflix comedy from the makers of other bad comedies. Sorry, McCarthy and Spencer, but you’re better than this. Read full review
25
ABC NewsPeter TraversApr 9, 2021
This comedy misfire starring McCarthy and Spencer as unlikely superheroes is hardly a crime against cinema. It just a bumpy road to blah in which the actors look to be having a way better time than you will. That’s messed up. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangApr 12, 2021
Thunder Force is at least an equal-opportunities bummer: It doesn’t work as a superhero adventure or a midlife reclamation movie or a mismatched buddy comedy or a family entertainment unless your aim is to disappoint all members of the family equally. Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreApr 9, 2021
Thunder Force doesn’t work as a comedy, but that’s because it doesn’t really work as a movie. There’s so little chemistry between McCarthy and Spencer, longtime real-life friends, that, rather than buddies, their characters often just come across as mildly surprised to find themselves in the same room. Read full review
20
CNNBrian LowryApr 9, 2021
A comedic dud that's aptly titled, since it makes loud noises without really needing to be seen. The one thing unlikely to be heard during this Netflix superhero spoof is a whole lot of laughter. Read full review
20
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 9, 2021
Thunder Force, the latest in a string of dismal comic collaborations between Melissa McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone, does nothing to improve upon its predecessors. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangApr 9, 2021
Thunder Force is at least an equal-opportunities bummer: It doesn’t work as a superhero adventure or a midlife reclamation movie or a mismatched buddy comedy or a family entertainment unless your aim is to disappoint all members of the family equally. Read full review
12
The Associated PressMark KennedyApr 9, 2021
It’s a tedious mess to endure and seemed like way more fun making than watching. Read full review
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