It seems like a no-brainer: Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer in a comedy where they become (somewhat) accidental superheroes? Should be good, right? Alas, the first trailer for Thunder Force is here, and it’s a string of unfunny cracks about “chicks in their 40s.”
Robert Downey Jr. was in his 40s when the first Iron Man was made. Mark Ruffalo made his debut as the Hulk when he was in his mid-40s. Chadwick Boseman was in his 40s when he starred in Black Panther. Two of Marvel’s female stars have aged into their 40s over the course of the films: Zoe Saldana and Evangeline Lilly. Ming-Na Wen is in her 50s and still an astonishing action hero. The existence of badass middle-aged women is not inherently a punchline. But this trailer makes it one.
Thunder Force is the latest collaboration between McCarthy and her husband, writer/director/actor Ben Falcone (after Tammy, The Boss, and Life of the Party). The plot, per Netflix, is simple enough: “In a world where supervillains are commonplace, two estranged childhood best friends reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers to protect their city.”
This is just the first trailer; maybe the film itself is less egregious. But this is still how they chose to market it. Thunder Force arrives on Netflix on April 9th.
Oh ye of little faith.
Not betting on it.
Why does Octavia Spencer have to be in the background of the poster?
The trailer for Spy was pretty awful, but it turned out to be a pretty decent movie. Even Ghostbusters was better than it’s trailer suggested, and The Snyder JL Remake, which this is clearly spoofing, can’t help be better than its own trailers. Trailers are meaningless now anyway. They need a gravelly voiced man telling us what kind of a world everyone is living in.
Having said all that, this looks like the kind of fun that I am down for. I’ll be watching this.
In world where sexist, age-shaming white male villains seek revenge for no longer being the center of attention . . .
#5.
That works.
@@@@@ 3- Movie posters are very contractual. Every inch of the picture and working is there per the contracts with the actors and director, etc. I presume that for this movie, it looks like a Melissa McCarthy kind of movie, no? So she’s the star and so she is front and center with top billing. Octavia Spencer no doubt has in her contract to have her name up there too and be on the poster.
Basically this is not a racist thing unless you think Spencer should get top billing over McCarthy even if it is McCarthy’s movie.
Looks dreadful. I’ll pass.
It does look dreadful, but then sadly so do a lot of Melissa McCarthy movies. I’m glad Octavia Spencer has her own production company and I appreciate wanting to take jobs, accept work and collect paychecks; it hasn’t hurt others like Samuel L. Jackson, and it certainly hasn’t kept Spencer from getting excellent parts in wonderful projects, or being considered for serious awards and getting acclaimed. But this looked genuinely painful when I first read about/saw the trailer drop elsewhere. McCarthy really needs to get someone else’s eyes besides her husbands, on some of these scripts – there’s the possibility, as there was with aspects of Hancock and some other non-traditional conceptualizations of your standard superhero-dare, of a more interesting and entertaining film.
Thunder Force sounds like a sequel to Thunder pants
Maybe a better question is why does everything have to be about a bloody superhero?
@11 – Because it sells?
@7 – But they’re playing a superhero duo. So it’s weird that they’re not side-by-side with no center focus. Not saying it’s racist necessarily, but…more like subtle white privilege that people tend to overlook but is pervasive.
Seems like this movie would work if they were teens or young adults. Has a very Nick feel to it.
This is obviously a spoof of those movies with the old men, except where people are aware of the reality of being a middle-aged physical hero. I think it will be funny, But then, I’m a middle-aged woman who needs a pry bar to get out of one of those low-slung cars so I can appreciate the humor of the situation.
I’d like to point out that there isn’t actually “a string of unfunny cracks” as concerns their age; there’s literally one. You can count it. Secondly, comparing this film, steeped in humor, to the scads of super serious superhero catalogue of both Marvel & DC seems a bit of a misfire to me. Why not compare it to other Melissa McCarthy films, given that this isn’t exactly out of touch with her body of work? Furthermore, to refer to this trailer as “egregious” feels rather heavy-handed–especially given that none of the preface arguments (“unfunny cracks” and a perplexing paragraph detailing the age of male/female MCU stars) warrant such strong negativity.
Given the film’s description, given Melissa McCarthy, are expectations truly being dashed here? To the point where the film’s initial trailer can be labeled “egregious”?
A stretch too far, to be honest.