Melissa McCarthy comedies have become a joke in and of themselves in recent years. I’ve even heard some say she’s similar to Adam Sandler in her acting style. While I don’t agree, some of the comedic flops of the last five years aren’t a great indicator for the actress. McCarthy wouldn’t be as popular as she is now if she didn’t have some good comedic talent, but I’m not here to review Melissa McCarthy, I’m here to review her newest film “Thunder Force.” The film stars McCarthy, alongside Octavia Spencer and Jason Bateman in a world where supervillains are commonplace as opposed to superheroes. This action-comedy film follows two women as they set out to stop the superpowered crime that has become rampant in her city. While the film was good overall, I’d like to focus on the action, comedy and story.

First, the action, while never bad, perse, it is very weak. Action sequences seem to last a few minutes, and the film focuses primarily on the story. This isn’t a terrible thing, but it’s weird to have a superhero film where the superpowers aren’t used much in the plot. The action scenes that were there, are just okay and can feature quick cuts and quickly resolved action scenes.

Now, the comedy. The film has some amazing jokes and some not-so-stellar jokes. There were moments I laughed hard at, and others that I just groaned when I heard them. McCarthy and Spencer do a great job of playing off each other in scenes and it’s surprisingly rare how the jokes never seem too forced into the film. There were a few spots where a fart or poop joke could have been very lazy put in, but the writers decided against it, which was refreshing. Now, this doesn’t mean the film lacks these types of jokes entirely, but you can tell they weren’t trying to make the lazy and cliche jokes that were barely funny 10 years ago. There are comedic moments that are set up earlier and pay off humorously, and overall, I enjoyed the comedy. It wasn’t anything life-changing, but it did a good job.

While it’s nothing amazing, the plot of “Thunder Force” is pretty basic in a good way, up until the last 30 minutes. The plot is pretty simple in the best way, the comedy is pretty good, and the actors do a solid job bringing the characters from one scene to another for comedic moments in a natural manner, which it usually isn’t. I enjoyed the film pretty much entirely till the end. Without spoilers, there are a handful of choices made at the end of the film that have at the most, barely any indication or foreshadowing in the film. Everyone can like a good twist, but it should either have some benefit to the plot or some indication earlier for it to make sense within the film. Instead, the twists at the end act more like a “look at the fun thing you didn’t expect! Wild!” It sadly weakens the plot right before the credits roll.

While it had some glaring problems, I enjoyed Netflix’s “Thunder Force.” The acting was great, and the comedy was usually pretty enjoyable. While the action and some plot elements stood out as lackluster, I would still recommend this film to anyone out there that’s just looking for something random to put on this weekend. I am giving “Thunder Force” a 2.5 out of 5 stars.