By There was only one panel I was looking forward to during New York Comic this year, and it’s been a long wait for it. On Saturday, Lionsgate held a dual panel featuring both Power Rangers and John Wick: Chapter Two. Suffice to say, given my history here, I was a little more excited for one than the other.
But after a trailer leak on Facebook prompted an early release, it quickly became clear that the short teaser released online was all we were going to get. So to make up for the lack of new info, I’ll be discussing the teaser trailer a bit more and giving a few impressions.
First thing’s first, we did get a few key bits of info that my fan brain was able to parse out. One thing the cast seemed to emphasize at the panel was the fact they had to do a lot of stunt work themselves, which is great (and what I wanted all along). RJ Cyler (Billy) had a pretty fun anecdote about how he learned how to do an “axe kick” from his stuntman. So this at least confirms that we’ll be seeing them fight outside of suits, but if the trailer is anything to go by, these fights are most likely mixes of martial arts and superpowers. As for the Zords, we still didn’t get a look at them as it seemed that the teaser trailer was really all that was ready to show off for now. It’s a little lame but I get not wanting to release it all early.
My biggest concern going forward, however, is how well this cast will work together. At the panel they were telling stories of how much they bonded as a group, but their behavior told a different story. They seemed stiff around each other with no natural chemistry. In fact, the only ones happy to be there were the previously mentioned RJ Cyler and Becky G (Trini), who not only color coordinated their outfits but also are the only experienced actors in the teenage cast. It didn’t help matters when the host clearly didn’t understand what was going on, so there was no push for more stories of their time on set together. The last bit of new info is both director Dean Isrealite and Elizabeth Banks mentioned Goldar and the Putty Patrol. Not a hard confirmation, but it’s good to know these characters will be back in some regard.
But since they thought the teaser was good enough to show twice, I might as well breakdown some things here. As I mentioned in that post, I’m a little torn. After spending some time away from it and the fan bubble, I’ve come to realize a few things. I’m not sure what I expected, but I totally forgot Lionsgate is the reason Young Adult books made so much money. The Hunger Games, Twilight, they all play a part here. While the opening logos promise a rainbow colored adventure (even spilling out into the first shot of the trailer with Jason and his red car, and yellow, pink and blue bikes), the rest of the film gives way to the same grim color palette the rest of the Young Adult films have. But in a weird way, this totally works when stuff like the power coins are highlighted. While the overly dark lighting might get tiresome, maybe the colors will pop more. Sort of a silver lining situation. But that’s pretty much where the positives end.
I’m thinking this reboot, an origin story as the trailer confirms, is going to be both fun and boring. As evidenced by the Breakfast Club like setup (where a bunch of latchkey kids come together in detention, including a red ranger wearing a house arrest anklet), these kids are meeting other for the first time before bonding over becoming superheroes. While I don’t like their Spider-Man esque powers (complete with the Tobey Macguire “look I have abs now” scene), I get it. Power Rangers has always been about regular people who get caught up in irregularity, and it’s been done in the series proper, but this direction only works when the characters are defined well. If you remember, it took the original show sixteen episodes of team building before it could tell an actual story (“Green With Evil”). I’m also guessing that’s why we’ve seen so little of the Ranger action as of yet. Which is a shame since that’s what is going to separate the movie from all the other boring teen films.
The most grim prediction I can make regarding this tease is that we’re only going to get about 15-20 minutes of them in the actual suits. At least the panel confirmed that the suits are physical (with CG enhancements, most likely), but I’m sure most of this origin is going to be spent getting to know these kids since the film doesn’t have the luxury of getting 22 mins of air time every weekend. At least it looks like they’ll free Rita when they nab the power coins. Since there’s an image of her trapped in some kind of rock, I’m assuming it’s the same the rock Billy blows up in the trailer. It’d be neat to connect Rita directly to the Rangers that way.
Overall, I am a bit disappointed with the way the NYCC panel went down. Once I took off my fan hat, and put on my critical one however, I did ease up. But not by much. As always, I remain highly skeptical. I don’t like some of the changes to the story, but I do like some of the changes it brings (the fact Rita can say “kill” instead of “destroy” is a huger deal than we’re making out of it). And it seems the trailer is doing a lot to grab non-fans of the series, which is always a huge plus. I just don’t want to watch a series of movies I dislike, so I hope these can be good. Then again, since this could have been much worse I’ll take what I can get.
Oh yeah, don’t expect the Green Ranger anytime soon.