Power Rangers Review

PG-13: Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence, Action and Destruction, Language, and For Some Crude Humor

Lionsgate, Temple Hill Entertainment, SCG Films

2 Hrs and 4 Minutes

Cast: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks

REVIEW: Growing up, I was never fond of Saban's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I was born during the time Power Rangers was at its peak of its popularity. So as I got older, I never got into any of their shows. Okay, there was only one I was impressed with, which was Power Rangers SPD. Just the idea of seeing the Rangers occupying as police officers was cool to me. I don’t even know why but I remember thoroughly liking the show a lot. All of that Mighty Morphin shit in the past, I didn’t care for. Out of the many series the franchise had, I only liked one which says a lot about my connection with Power Rangers. Cut to 2017, where I have to review a goddamn Power Rangers movie. 

Saban's "Power Rangers" follows five ordinary high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove – and the world – is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.

THE GOOD: With every film adaptation of popular TV shows nowadays, Hollywood has the tendency to take something that was light-hearted and make it dark, brooding, or inappropriately crude. With this Power Rangers film, it's great to see something that started off silly maintain it’s silliness. This is undeniably a “turn off your brain” type of film but it has a lot of its own clever moments. For example, instead of having their own generic “finding your ability scene,” similar to Spiderman or the Fantastic Four, this film uniquely does it with three of the rangers. It's not that they’re original but they're genuinely humorous. When they set a joke or an element featured earlier in the film, they cleverly bring it back full circle. It's not smart, but it is earned where it's played for humorous effect. It's like the recent Ninja Turtles where the filmmakers captured the true essence of the turtles proving that they are the stars of the film which relates to the Rangers in this film.

The entire cast is fun to watch as they capture the true essence of being Power Rangers.  Some of the characters are underdeveloped more than others, but they all have that teenage spirit that you root for. Out of all the Rangers, the one that stood out to me was Billy played by RJ Cyler. In the 2015 indie comedy Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl he was the most breakout star who was unpredictably funny and enjoyable to watch. In here he’s the baby of the group who is pure of heart. He’s the Spud of the entire group minus the drugs. While everyone is going gaga over Trini being the first LGBT superhero here, we should be commending them for also including an autistic kid and depicting him as a standard character with humor and heart. One of the things that I like about Jason Scott is his relationship with Billy. They instantly become friends and Jason treats him like a regular guy. He stands up for him, he’s patient with him, they have somewhat of a genuine bromance.

The film breaks down the medium of the average superhero which was always the nature of the Power Rangers themselves. Alpha 5 even says it perfectly in one scene. “Different colors. Different kids. Different colored kids.” The film thankfully wastes no time setting these kids up as Power Rangers for its thoroughly fast paced.

It is a genuine pleasure to see Bryan Cranston return to his roots by playing Zordon in this Power Rangers film. Back in the day, Bryan Cranston got his start playing as various monsters in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series. If it wasn’t for Power Rangers, Bryan Cranston wouldn’t be the Walter White we know and love today and if it wasn’t for Bryan Cranston, Billy Cranston wouldn’t be named Billy Cranston. Their influence work hand in hand so when he gets that phone call for that next Power Rangers film he better say yes with no hesitation. Zordon is surprisingly more than a head in this film as he’s expanded into a developed character. 

I truly love Elizabeth Bank’s performance as Rita. You can see she having the time of her life playing this over the top villain that harps back to the previous actresses who played her. You can feel Banks chew up the scenery in glory and joy. Every minute she’s onscreen, Banks constantly control the scene. Even when Rita faces against the rangers, you sort of root for her because of how charismatic Banks' performance is. She plays it similarly to Helena Boham Carter as the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland in the vain of the over the top dialect and Hank Azaria as Gargamel in the live-action Smurfs movies in the vain of the liveliness humor.

THE BAD: One of the worst things about Power Rangers is that you don’t know whether to take it seriously or not. The film has a thoroughly playful and silly tone, but once the characters try to get serious, you’re still trying to get yourself back together from laughing. When we’re introduced to Rita Repulsa, for some reason the film tries way too hard to introduce her like a horror villain. They have Elizabeth Banks do scary faces while she’s mugging the camera as they play jump scare sound effects behind it. It wants us to take her seriously as a villain, but you can’t. I’m sorry, if you have a villain named Rita Repulsa there’s no fucking way you can categorize her as a threat. Her name is way too goddamn funny. I don’t care that you have the badass voice Bryan Cranston giving the Rangers exposition explaining who she is, her name is still RITA REPULSA!

The most common thing I hate about reboots to franchises with a large geeky fanbase behind them is when the film does fan service. Of course, this film does it from beginning to end but in this, we get that fan service in the form of Alpha 5.  I honestly would’ve preferred hearing Bill Hader say AYI AYI AYI, but instead, he’s that overhyped character that constantly tells the audience, "HEY WE GOT THAT SHIT THAT YOU REMEMBER!" He even looks at the audience and says, “HEY LOOK ITS THE POWER RANGERS!” Though he is speaking in Zordon, you know he's talking to the audience. I love Bill Hader’s voice and I love Bill Hader, but it's not Alpha 5. 

Even as a full length big budgeted feature film the terminologies and names for everything in this universe is STILL AS STUPID AS I REMEMBER IT AS A KID! So, in other words, you die hard fans will get your inner kid nostalgia with this.

For a film with a $105 million dollar budget, the visual effects are painfully cheap. They’re jarringly bad. When Zack enters his void for the first time, you see the green screen outline behind him and you’re just there thinking.

The only time you see the $105 million put into work is the entire third act and every moment Zordon is onscreen. The ship is alright looking, and alpha 5 is rendered well, but something about the CG is off with both of them. The animatronics and puppetry work in the 90s were more realistic than this. All the effects prior with the kids are god awful. The best visual effects that are shown is everything that revolves around Rita. She has a kickass scene in a jewelry store with effects that are more effective than everything they did with the kids. The effects of the Mighty Morphin show was marginally more impressive than this. 

The action sequences in this really go through the motions. It's not reminiscent of the original series, but more with Man of Steel with its amount of destruction. Though it thankfully it only takes place in two street blocks, plenty of the buildings in Angel Grove goes to shit. It even tries to take a jab at Transformers while doing it while you know they’re doing the same thing but just in a smaller setting. The reason I favor the action in the Michael Bay Ninja Turtles movies is because each action sequence was fresh and exhilarating. Here, you never get the sense of that feeling for it takes an hour and a half for these kids to become Power Rangers. It is nothing more than your standard superhero origin story. The film’s build up is so overwhelming that by the final action sequence it performs so underwhelmingly. They gleefully play the old Mighty Morphin GO GO POWER RANGERS theme and when they do you’re just uncomfortably laughing thinking,

LAST STATEMENT: Adapted from a 90s Saturday Morning Show, Saban’s Power Rangers is a 2017 Saturday Morning Show. As a Power Rangers film, it rightfully gets the spirit and heart of the source material, but for everyone else, GO GO WAIT FOR HOME VIDEO!

Rating: 2.5/5 | 56%

Super Scene: WHERE IS MY CRYSTAL?

Pros	Cons
Essence of the Rangers are Captured	You Don't Know Whether to Take the Movie Seriously or Not
RJ Cyler's Billy Cranston	Visual Effects Are Atrocious
Elizabeth Banks is a Tour De Force	Generic Action Sequences
Bryan Cranston	Score Sounds Way too Much Like Stranger Things