Power Rangers
Power Rangers is directed by Dean Israelite and stars Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks, Dacre Montgomery and Naomi Scott amongst many others and is based off the 90s American children's TV series about teenagers who find power coins of different colours and are recruited by an alien named Zordon to fight in a war against Rita Repulsa.
Now I just want to take a moment to run through my thoughts going into this movie. I loved the Power Rangers series growing up, despite what my parents would say. I remember rushing back from school every day and fighting with my sister for control over the remote just so I can watch one episode of Mighty Morphin'. So when I heard they were doing a reboot movie I was over the moon. I knew what I was going to get though. In an age where gritty reboots are all the range (see Fant4stic) I was worried that the cheesy series I grew up with would be unable to make the translation to the big screen. My biggest issue going into this movie was some of the design elements. Particularly the Zords, Ranger suits and Alpha 5. There were images released before the movie that made me think "Did anything in this movie make it past the initial concept art?" Everything looked cheap, tacty and poorly realised. So that's basically where I was at in my mind about this movie. It could be one of two things, either the worst movie of the year, ruining my childhood or something cheesy and nostalgic enough to be passable.
And when I came out of this movie I was gobsmacked to think that I was wrong on both accounts. Power Rangers is a good movie and I had a lot of fun with it. Notice I say good movie and not a good Power Rangers movie. I was so taken off guard by this, where do I start?
So the five leads, the Power Rangers, are really actually good actors. All of them are relative unknowns and credit where credits due, they hold this movie up really well. I was particularly fond of Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott and RJ Tyler as the red, pink and blue ranger respectively who the movie spends the most time with. The way the story is written too allows for a lot of character development too. They are unable to morph until they bond together as a team and learn more about one another which is where this movie performs best. Something I never thought I'd be able to say about a Power Rangers movie is that these people have layers. Everyone is fleshed out with detailed and emotional back stories that make you really empathise with these teens and realise why they're acting the way that they are.
Bryan Cranston is great as Zordon. The design of that character is by far my favourite visual effect in the movie. Alpha 5 is played brilliantly by Bill Hader who turns the cheesiness of that character on it's head and provides a lot of dry whit to the story.
The best thing about this movie is by far the first two acts. It takes its time to world build and develop the characters of each individual ranger in ways I never thought possibly when going in. However the last act when they do eventually suit up is where this movie weakens. It goes from character driven to the summer blockbuster explosion fest we have come to expect as the megazord rips through the tiny town of Angel Grove. The movie looses a bit of it's charm when it goes full on Power Rangers. And as I said earlier, my fears about the designs in this movie do rear their head. They're not amazing but not as bad as the promotional images would have you think.
Rita Repulsa is where Power Rangers is really at odds with itself. Whilst Cranston, the five rangers and the story as a whole is trying to portray a more adult franchise, Elizabeth Banks is a ham fest as Rita Repulsa. She is very much reminiscent of the old Rita in terms of the style of her performance and that just plays at odds with everything else this movie is doing and doing very successfully.
Another thing this movie does really well is to alter Power Rangers lore in a way that refreshes what we are seeing and adds more weight to characters decisions and motivations than there were in the original series. I wont get into too much detail but the past relationship between Rita and Zordon as well as the motivation behind Zordon creating this new team of rangers I felt really worked. It gave the story so much depth in ways I again never believed were possible.
I will however just mention, this movie has the best product placement I have ever seen in a movie, period. They thought, "if we're going to have this, we might as well go all out." And boy they really did. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are so integral to the plot of Power Rangers that it would be a spoiler for me to tell you anything more about it. Bravo. You've still managed to retain some of the ridiculessness from the original series I see.
So in short Power Rangers really blew me away with a fantastic cast, great story with engrossing characters and enough references to please lifelong fans. Is it a perfect movie? My gosh no. The last act dips in quality a bit and Rita Repulsa's character feels at odds with the rest of the movie but it does no way detract from the fact that Power Rangers is a hell of a good time, well worth your money and fingers crossed that they get a go ahead for a sequel (which is teased in a mid-credits scene so stick around).
Power Rangers gets a B.
Now I just want to take a moment to run through my thoughts going into this movie. I loved the Power Rangers series growing up, despite what my parents would say. I remember rushing back from school every day and fighting with my sister for control over the remote just so I can watch one episode of Mighty Morphin'. So when I heard they were doing a reboot movie I was over the moon. I knew what I was going to get though. In an age where gritty reboots are all the range (see Fant4stic) I was worried that the cheesy series I grew up with would be unable to make the translation to the big screen. My biggest issue going into this movie was some of the design elements. Particularly the Zords, Ranger suits and Alpha 5. There were images released before the movie that made me think "Did anything in this movie make it past the initial concept art?" Everything looked cheap, tacty and poorly realised. So that's basically where I was at in my mind about this movie. It could be one of two things, either the worst movie of the year, ruining my childhood or something cheesy and nostalgic enough to be passable.
And when I came out of this movie I was gobsmacked to think that I was wrong on both accounts. Power Rangers is a good movie and I had a lot of fun with it. Notice I say good movie and not a good Power Rangers movie. I was so taken off guard by this, where do I start?
So the five leads, the Power Rangers, are really actually good actors. All of them are relative unknowns and credit where credits due, they hold this movie up really well. I was particularly fond of Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott and RJ Tyler as the red, pink and blue ranger respectively who the movie spends the most time with. The way the story is written too allows for a lot of character development too. They are unable to morph until they bond together as a team and learn more about one another which is where this movie performs best. Something I never thought I'd be able to say about a Power Rangers movie is that these people have layers. Everyone is fleshed out with detailed and emotional back stories that make you really empathise with these teens and realise why they're acting the way that they are.
Bryan Cranston is great as Zordon. The design of that character is by far my favourite visual effect in the movie. Alpha 5 is played brilliantly by Bill Hader who turns the cheesiness of that character on it's head and provides a lot of dry whit to the story.
The best thing about this movie is by far the first two acts. It takes its time to world build and develop the characters of each individual ranger in ways I never thought possibly when going in. However the last act when they do eventually suit up is where this movie weakens. It goes from character driven to the summer blockbuster explosion fest we have come to expect as the megazord rips through the tiny town of Angel Grove. The movie looses a bit of it's charm when it goes full on Power Rangers. And as I said earlier, my fears about the designs in this movie do rear their head. They're not amazing but not as bad as the promotional images would have you think.
Rita Repulsa is where Power Rangers is really at odds with itself. Whilst Cranston, the five rangers and the story as a whole is trying to portray a more adult franchise, Elizabeth Banks is a ham fest as Rita Repulsa. She is very much reminiscent of the old Rita in terms of the style of her performance and that just plays at odds with everything else this movie is doing and doing very successfully.
Another thing this movie does really well is to alter Power Rangers lore in a way that refreshes what we are seeing and adds more weight to characters decisions and motivations than there were in the original series. I wont get into too much detail but the past relationship between Rita and Zordon as well as the motivation behind Zordon creating this new team of rangers I felt really worked. It gave the story so much depth in ways I again never believed were possible.
I will however just mention, this movie has the best product placement I have ever seen in a movie, period. They thought, "if we're going to have this, we might as well go all out." And boy they really did. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are so integral to the plot of Power Rangers that it would be a spoiler for me to tell you anything more about it. Bravo. You've still managed to retain some of the ridiculessness from the original series I see.
So in short Power Rangers really blew me away with a fantastic cast, great story with engrossing characters and enough references to please lifelong fans. Is it a perfect movie? My gosh no. The last act dips in quality a bit and Rita Repulsa's character feels at odds with the rest of the movie but it does no way detract from the fact that Power Rangers is a hell of a good time, well worth your money and fingers crossed that they get a go ahead for a sequel (which is teased in a mid-credits scene so stick around).
Power Rangers gets a B.
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