The Secret Ingredient in the Thunder Force Movie: A Buttery Sweet Romance Perfectly Spiced With Old Bay Seasoning
Thunder Force starring Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy © Netflix
For geeks like me, there’s a relative scarcity of sci-fi romance films and shows (specifically, romances with a happy ending). On top of that, the romance is usually a subplot rather than the main story. SFR is rather low on Hollywood’s radar, so I’m willing to take whatever crumbs I can get. Fortunately, sometimes the tastiness of the crumbs surprises me.
Case in point: the romance subplot in Thunder Force (Netflix). This comedic superhero film stars Octavia Spencer and Melissa McCarthy. Here’s the description:
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. [via IMDB.com]
Of note, Thunder Force features two mature, heavyset women as the superhero leads, which is awesome in its own right. Plenty of sites offer reviews and commentary on Thunder Force as a whole, so I’m just going to gush about the film’s offbeat romance between Lydia Berman (Melissa McCarthy) and The Crab (Jason Bateman).
Alert: there are a few story spoilers below.
Confession: I enjoy comedic sci-fi romance, but it’s not my go-to type of story. So if a comedic SFR catches my eye, that means the content did something extra special—or weird—to catch my interest.
The one in Thunder Force is an enemies-to-lovers romance. Lydia is a superhero with super strength who partners with Dr. Emily Stanton (Octavia Spencer) to defend Earth against the evil force of miscreants who evolved from a blast of cosmic rays. The Crab—a human and crab hybrid—works as a henchperson for William “The King” Stevens (Bobby Cannavale), a supervillain who aspires to become Chicago’s next mayor. When The King loses the election, he targets Thunder Force for elimination.
Lydia needs the inside scoop about The King’s schemes and so she butters up (see what I did there) The Crab for information. The Crab turns out to be a charming, yet world-weary henchperson looking for a way out. Lydia could be the escape he needs from a life of crime, if only he’s courageous enough to take the plunge.
Characters Lydia and The Crab enjoy a near kiss during a music sequence in the superhero comedy movie Thunder Force © Netflix
The romance between Lydia and The Crab has great chemistry, witty banter, and a boatload of crab jokes. More crab jokes than you can shake a claw at, in fact. Crab-related sexual innuendo is a phenomenon I never thought I’d encounter in a sci-fi romance. I very much appreciate that kind of innovative envelope-pushing.
The more the actors leaned into this unlikely love bond, the weirder and better it got. Lydia loves eating crab, so it’s hilarious that her love interest is a man with crab claws—and probably other crab parts she’d love to lick.
Nor did the actors hold back from the jaw-dropping visuals, which include a shared interest in eating raw chicken. This romance also features an ingenious use of Old Bay Seasoning. If that’s not Oscar-worthy, I don’t know what is.
McCarthy and Bateman’s performances sell this romance like nothing else. These are two comedic actors at the top of their games and their combined talents translate into a bizarre yet tender romance. The burning hunger and huskiness in McCarthy’s voice as she’s about to make love with The Crab is masterfully over the top—and also surprisingly nuanced. The characters hold nothing back when it comes to expressing their love, and our lives are all the richer—and tastier—for it.
