By More so than any of the reviews I’ve written, I feel I have to preface this one a bit. Since I (literally in some cases) hold the Power Rangers brand so close to my chest, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the reboot since the moment it was announced three years ago. I’ve poured over every detail, every image, every trailer, and I’ve worried about everything a fan could possibly worry about.
But I’m going to try my best to keep this fair. As much as I love the series, I also know to handle this property as I would any other reboot or remake and critique it professionally on its own merits or faults.
That being said, I wish Power Rangers was either a triumph or disaster. At least with either extreme I’d have something concrete to write about here.
Power Rangers
Director: Dean Isrealite
Release Date: March 24, 2017
Rated: PG-13
Power Rangers follows the well-known roots of the original TV series. Five teenagers — Jason (Dacre Montgomery), Billy (RJ Cyler), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Zack (Ludi Lin), and Trini (Becky G) — stumble on five mysterious coins granting them superpowers. Upon discovering a spaceship deep underground along with a giant face-in-the-wall Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and robot Alpha 5 (Bill Hader), the teens learn they’re the latest team of Power Rangers, colorful suited heroes who need to protect the Zeo Crystal from good-girl-gone-bad Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). The PG-13 rating and big screen budget affords the film some great updates to the original series’ ideas, but at times also feels like a two hour fan film when the goofy series terminology (words like “morph” and the “Zeo Crystal,” which will mean more to fans) is juxtaposed with the grounded world of the film.
Thankfully when I say “grounded,” I actually mean a deeper look at characterization and themes inherent in the series and not “dark and gritty.” You’re not going to, say, see Zack shoot someone in the face but will definitely hear him make a masturbation joke. The risque’ jokes and sultrier villain help carve out a much needed separate identity from the TV series, but these kinds of additions tend to make for a confusing film overall. It’s hard to gauge exactly who the film is meant for when some of the jokes and situations may be a bit too complicated for the current intended fanbase (kids) yet it’s not afraid to dive into hokey territory at times to make cede kids happy. There’s also so much drastically different from the original production it’ll alienate nostalgic curiosity. But in that same breath, Power Rangers often bends over backwards to include bits of unnecessary fan service to cater to old fans, undercutting its own footprint. So it ends up perceived as non-committal to either vision. No one is going to be truly happy with the film’s tone.
While its tone may be at war with itself, Power Rangers absolutely nails the chemistry of the core five. Aided by the fact they’re all relatively unknown (save for RJ Cyler and Becky G, who turn in the best performances of the group), these five carry the film through its rougher patches. Scenes that wouldn’t work elsewhere or ebb the flow of plot, such as one where five teens sit around a campfire and share their biggest secrets without prompting, manage to land because the cast is so enjoyable to watch. The great focus on characterization allows each of them to find their groove in the film and give the Rangers a much needed personality. It’s why you see their faces during the big Man of Steel/Transformers sequence (where the Megazord fights Goldar through Krispy Kreme Grove), too. As unique as Power Rangers‘ fights should be, they devolve into CG nonsense you’ll find elsewhere. But the chemistry of the team I came to love by the end adds a much needed humanity and fun while teasing much better films (presumably) to come.
Elizabeth Banks’ Rita is also truly remarkable. Finding the sweet spot between scenery chewing and serious, each of her scenes is a highlight. Banks helps to balance the sometimes overwrought seriousness of the Power Rangers‘ tone with her charismatic cheese. Bryan Cranston’s Zordon is fine, but I’ll give him credit for going full body make-up for the role. I find myself at war with my “fan” reaction to the film since I dig the layered characters (as Billy reveals he’s on the Autism spectrum and one character hints at a potential homosexual identity), the original theme gets used once (it’s poorly timed, but has a nostalgic angle fans would instantly recognize), and even the suits look nice when standing still (which is something I never thought I’d believe, really), but then there’s a masturbation joke not five minutes in after a boring “gritty” title card once again revealing a clash of tones holding the film back. I suppose the project would have landed better had it a director who wasn’t prone to much of the generic blockbuster film camera angles and quirks.
Power Rangers‘ flow stutters as development often comes to complete standstills, but then moves to scenes where concepts are introduced pretty rapidly (and several poorly soundtracked montages). I know this is probably weird to say with as loud of a property as this, but I enjoyed the quiet moments of the film rather than when it played out like an expensive music video. The final battle has something, like, six track changes and that’s only one example of the film never quite getting comfortable with itself save for a few brief scenes. Even if it’s not comfortable with itself, that does not mean it escapes franchise building. There’s no saving it from feeling like the first entry of a larger series rather than a single entity.
Make no mistake, I have no delusions over the quality of the Power Rangers property. This was tough to adapt, I’m sure, and the end result is much better and worse than I had anticipated.
Much like Power Rangers, I too am confused. Although I didn’t like a lot of its editing choices, and feel like it could’ve been trimmed for brevity, I want to see this cast in another film with all of the kinks ironed out. There’s powerful potential here, you just have to sit through this one first.