Power Rangers - movie review
Power Rangers
Plot: High school outcasts stumble upon an old alien ship, where they acquire superpowers and are dubbed the Power Rangers. Learning that an old enemy of the previous generation has returned to exact vengeance, the group must harness their powers and use them to work together and save the world.
Cast: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler
Director: Dean Israelite
Certificate: 12A (moderate violence, threat)
Runtime: 2hrs 4 mins
Release Date: Friday 24th March 2017
GO GO POWER RANGERS. DA. DA. DA. DA. DA. GO GO POWER RANGERS. As you can probably tell, when I was younger, my Saturday mornings were dedicated to Ben 10, American Dragon and Power Rangers. Personally, I always identified as Tommy (Green Ranger) but seeing as he doesn't appear in this version (no word on a possible sequel), I settle for Blue. Simply put, Power Rangers was a seminal part of my growing up so it should go without saying that I was both highly anticipating and incredibly apprehensive of this new reboot of the Power Rangers. Amazingly, this film manages to both respect its cheesy source material but actually deliver a well made movie in the process.
As a large fan of all things Power Rangers, even I can say that the acting from all TV series' (be it Mighty Morphin, Dino Charge or Mega Force) is terrible. They were cheesy, over-the-top and just hilariously awful. This was my main worry when it came to this new reboot. Would the acting hold up? Then it was revealed that, as the Rangers, a cast of mostly unknown teenagers would star. Now I was really worried because I had no idea how they would cope and what tone this film was aiming for. However, slap my arse and call me Shirley because the acting in this is mostly quite impressive. All of the Rangers share brilliant chemistry and that is evident during an unexpectedly emotional campfire discussion. Dacre Montgomery stars as Jason Scott (Red Ranger) and being a relative newcomer, this is a solid debut into stardom. Montgomery does a great job in the lead and yes, he may look uncannily like Zac Efron but because of his immense likeability in the role and a performance with talent behind it, he provides depth to Jason's character. He isn't just the typical high school quarterback. He's damaged. As are the other Rangers which makes the whole film feel much more grounded and that's a fair feat considering the film also included gigantic metallic Zords that resemble dinosaurs. As Kimberly (Pink Ranger), Naomi Scott takes up that mantle bringing surprising levity and warmth to the role. She, too, has her own troubled past that she is reluctant to reveal but Scott manages to ditch the clichéd high school cheerleader depiction and make her character seem very human and relatable. The best of the Rangers, however, has to be RJ Cyler as Billy (Blue Ranger). As I've said, each of the Rangers is given a very personal and human struggle for them to face in order to develop them rather than an empty void to accommodate a suit later in film. Billy is hilarious, adorable and the glue that holds the Rangers all together. Cyler nails every comedic moment, every emotional beat but it's his relationship with Jason that is one of the strongest parts of the movie.
Those three Rangers are certainly the better acted of the five. As for Becky G (Yellow Ranger) and Ludi Lin (Black Ranger), they're good but not as strong as Montgomery, Scott or Cyler. There are a few times when I felt like the two of them were pretty flat and emotionless. Trini (Becky G) has a great twist to her character and it was executed brilliantly but the lead up to her revelation, Trini was moody and unlikeable and unfortunately, I felt a distance to her. The same goes for Zack. Ludi did an okay job but there were a couple of times when he gets quite emotional about a family member of his yet I never felt like Ludi gave it his all. I thought he was holding a lot back and missed the opportunity to give the same depth that we got from others. That wraps up the Rangers themselves but fans of the show will also be happy to see incarnations of Zordon, Alpha-5 and Rita Repulsa. Bryan Cranston steps back into the Power Rangers world after appearing as a few villains back in the show's heyday. Cranston now lends his voice and face to Zordon and seemingly embraces the fun and new look at the whole franchise. Bill Hader too is very good as Alpha-5. He suits the voice, we get the typical Ai-yi-yi but this time round, the visuals for him remove the fact that he used to look like a glorified Noo-Noo from Teletubbies and now, he just looks pregnant. Finally, the person to complete a fairly extensive ensemble and totally revel in the cheesiness is Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. Having starred as nice and friendly characters for most of her career, this is a startling turn from Banks but she's incredible. She fits the grounded nature of the film by appearing a lot more villainous and terrifying than her television counterpart however, Banks knows when to ham it up and go all out, and when she does, it involves a lot of gold consumption and the result is something spectacular. Also, is it strange that I'm oddly attracted to her as Rita? Just putting that out there.
FACT: The Angel Grove High School logo in the film is the same one used in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Tone plays a big part in Power Rangers. To the films benefit, it knows when to go wild with the tongue in cheek humour and then, shifts into a more serious and (there's that word again) grounded approach. I'd hesitate to use words like 'dark' and 'gritty' because it really isn't. All that's been done is they have successfully shifted Power Rangers into the modern world. Dean Israelite missed the mark with Project Almanac but what he did succeed with that film was the behaviour of teenagers so it should come as no surprise that he's done the same here. It may have five credited screenwriters but as far as the dialogue is concerned, it's mostly on point. Power Rangers is a fun film but it does suffer from one almighty flaw and it's a flaw that will put some off entirely. This is less of a Power Rangers film and more like an elongated pilot episode in which the Power Rangers stuff comes in the final act. It's a ballsy move and I think, for the most part, it pays off. The interactions between the Rangers is entertaining enough to move the pace along as are the training montages. After a while, I did begin to notice a distinct lack of anything Power Rangersy and that was sorely missed. It's like an Iron Man film and him not donning the Iron Man suit until the final sequence. That being said, when the final act kicks into gear, Rita unleashes her evil plan and we get the suits, Zords and one almighty feeling of nostalgia, it's, dare I say, perfect. The final half an hour or so is precisely what I hoped a 2017 imagining of Power Rangers would bring. Speaking truly, it gave me goosebumps and the last time a film gave me goosebumps was in Rogue One during the orgasmic Vader scene. Seeing Goldar against a MegaZord is a thing of beauty. As for the story itself, Power Rangers is by the numbers. A group of teenage misfits run into a mysterious thing that alters them in ways they couldn't imagine, they need to learn to harness their powers yet in the meantime an evil person who bares some connection to the Rangers is set on a course of domination and the Rangers have to destroy them. Simple yet tremendously effective. However, it is worth talking about the elephant in the room, or should I say doughnut. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, Power Rangers has become infamous for the best, yet worst product placement in movie history. I can't quite believe I'm saying this but the MacGuffin of this film is set in a Krispy Kreme store. I'm not even kidding. There's product placement and then there's sheer corporate lunacy. Whether it was done in all seriousness or was incorporated just for a laugh, I found it hysterically unnecessary. Go Go Chocolate Doughnuts!!
This won't be the Power Rangers film everyone is hoping for. It's more Chronicle meets The Breakfast Club and then embraces its Power Rangers roots come the finale. All of the acting is commendable but the praise should be placed on the shoulders of Montgomery, Scott, Cyler and Banks. As a Ranger fan, this wasn't what I was expecting but I'm more than happy with this end result. If anything, this seems like a fitting entry point for a new generation of Ranger fans. That, and they'd probably be craving Krispy Kreme afterwards. I know I was.
My Verdict: 8/10
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