Thunderstruck Information

Thunderstruck is a 2012 children's film starring Kevin Durant, a small forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, an NBA franchise, along with Taylor Gray, Brandon T. Jackson, Doc Shaw and Jim Belushi, and directed by John Whitesell. It was released on August 24, 2012.

Plot

Brian is a 16-year-old teenager that lives in Oklahoma. He is mad about basketball. In his freshman year of high school, he tried out for the basketball team and is now the assistant of the team. He has always aspired to play like his hero Kevin Durant. When practicing basketball on his driveway, his sister comes out to film him. He ends up hurting himself and the sister later gave the video to Connor, the star player of the basketball team. When he got to school he saw a new girl Isabelle who he immediately likes. Connor shows the tape of Brian practicing to the whole school during lunchtime and when his father comes home, hearing that he has had a rough day, decided to take him to a Thunder game. The Thunder are playing the Detroit Pistons at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. At halftime Brian is chosen to shoot a half-court shot which he misses and hits the mascot in the process. Later on, he gets a chance to meet Durant and expresses his desire to play just like him. Durant signs the special edition Oklahoma City Thunder basketball that Brian got to shoot the half-court shot with. Brian says "I wish I had your talent" and Durant replies "I wish I could give it to you man, but listen, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard," then there is a surge of energy that goes through the ball. In the morning you hear on the radio that the Thunder lost and Durant shot 0-17 from the field in the 2nd half. In the morning he learns that Connor, who was at the game recorded him missing the half-court shot and posted it online. Later that night he goes out to a carnival and after Connor fails to hit shots to win a prize for the new girl, Isabelle. He laughs and Connor gives him the ball, saying "You try and do better". Brian then makes the shot (and 2 more shots after Connor thought he made it because of luck) and wins a prize which he gives it to Isabelle. Durant then goes to practice the next morning and his agent thinks he is unhappy about something but he simply say he is in a slump. When Brian goes out to shoot the next morning he is making shots unlike he usually does and even discovers he can dunk. Brian then goes to retry out for the basketball team and after seeing him play they let him on the team. He then films himself and dunking over the hood of a car, similar to the signature dunk Blake Griffin did during the 2011 Slam Duck Contest. Durant's agent meets with Candace Parker, who comes to meet with Durant's agent and is angry because she was branded as the female Kevin Durant however this marketing campaign is no longer good now that Durant is in a slump. In Brian's first game Connor refuses to pass him the ball until he is told to by his coach and Brian immediately becomes a star. The NBA on TNT crew then talks about Durant and Charles Barkley says "Durant is playing like a Mechanic". When Durant goes to practice his mom comes and dresses like a cheerleader to cheer him on. Brian meets the new girl Isabelle at the Go-Kart track and races her. Durant then goes to film a commercial about his new shoes - the KD IV - and cannot film it as he can no longer do the necessary skills. Kevin Durant's agent discovers Brian and realizes what has happened. He meets Brian in a parking lot on a date with Isabelle but he is told to go away as he wants to hang out with Isabelle. He gets Durant to come to Brian's school hoping to stop the switch and it does not work. He then confronts Brian about it at a party and Brian does not believe him. At a pep rally Isabella says that she cannot go out with him as he is too focused on basketball. Brian then sees a poster of Kevin Durant and decided to try and switch it back. It does not work and Durant decided that he would have to start over. After having to show Isabelle and realizes that he has to hit the mascot with the ball first. Then when he goes to the ground he hits the mascot and they repeat the original encounter except opposite and Kevin Durant gets his talent back. Durant gets back to full form and the Thunder qualify for the playoffs. Then at the game to make the playoffs for the Eagles (Brian's team) although he does not have the talent he still manages to lead his team to a close game and make the final shot to put them up by 1, this means that they make the state playoffs for the first time in 32 years. Then you see Brian practicing with Kevin Durant and you can see him getting better. Kevin Durant's KD IV commercial is shown just before the credits.

Cast

• Kevin Durant as himself
• Taylor Gray as Brian
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alan
• Doc Shaw as Mitch
• Jim Belushi as Coach Amross
• Tristin Mays as Isabelle
• Candace Parker as herself
• Robert Belushi as Assistant Coach Dan
• Spencer Daniels as Connor
• William Ragsdale as Joe Newall
• Hana Hayes as Ashley Newell
• Andrea Frankle as Math Teacher
• Beau Brasseaux as Drillers Basketball Player
• Glen Warner as Photographer
• Brie Lybrand as Isabel's Friend
• George Wilson as Janitor / Spider
• Sean Michael Cunningham as High School Announcer
• Lorrie Chilcoat as Security Guard
• Nicole Barré as Laurie Newell
• Kade Yarbrough as extra

Production

While shooting the film, Durant said that the hardest part was not the acting, but rather the fact that he had to miss jump shots on purpose for the film, to indicate that he no longer had the ability to play basketball as well as he used to.

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released on June 7, 2012.

Reviews

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 20% of 10 critics praised the film with an average score of 4.2/10. The audience gave the film a "fresh" 70% rating.