Thunder Force

Melissa McCarthy's fifth collaboration with her writer/director husband Ben Falcone aims to lampoon Hollywood's dependency upon superhero movies. However, it lacks the wit and ambition to do more than shuffle around a few stereotypes and pretend that a clutch of lazy gags represents cutting-edge satire. At its heart are Chicago forklift driver Lydia (McCarthy) and her estranged childhood friend Emily (Octavia Spencer), who discover that ordinary people can acquire superpowers. Armed with new powers of strength and invisibility, the pair set to tackling the sociopaths who mutated into "Miscreants" after the Earth was hit by interstellar rays back in 1983. Lydia's focus on defeating mayoral candidate the King (Bobby Cannavale), and his sidekick, Laser (Pom Klementieff), is slightly weakened by a crush on the Crab (Jason Bateman), a minor Miscreant with pincer arms. The lameness of the set-up would matter less if the gags were even vaguely funny but, despite the capable performances, quips and pratfalls alike land with a deadening thud.