GO GO POWER RANGERS!!! Here we are with the newly vitalized movie franchise for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It's been 20 years since we last saw the Power Rangers on the big screen. Most people are familiar with the franchise from the 1993 TV series on the Fox Kids afternoon block hour. At least that's how I remember the Rangers. There have been many iterations of the Rangers after that series including Ninjas, Aliens, Zeo, Space, Dino, etc. This film definitely gets inspiration from the film Chronicle while giving us hints of a nostalgic tone to the 1993 version of the Rangers with a few alterations. Like for instance, Zack (The Black Ranger) is played by an asian character while Billy (The Blue Ranger) is played by an african american character. Also Trini (The Yellow Ranger) is an "openly" gay character in this film.
I'm not going to spend too much time on the plot of the film but if you don't know or understand the history of the Rangers, it's about 5 "misguided or delinquent" teenagers who are given superpowers (such as strength, speed and martial arts) through a mystical power coin and led by the leader of the Power Rangers lair, Zordon. After receiving these powers they must come together to defeat the villain Rita Repulsa who is trying to find the crystal hidden in the Earth that will give her the power to destroy it.
This movie delivers everything that a fan of the original series expects and should provide joy to the newcomers to this franchise. It has great character development by allowing us to get a glimpse into each character's backstory as to why they act the way they do. It's not a lot of backstory into each character but enough to get you attached to each one. It's action lives up to all the other big budget summer blockbuster films that are seen these days. Even when you watching the film and you see the typical cliche things start to happen, they put a spin on things to change it up unexpectedly. There were several times when I thought I knew what was going to happen but it didn't. Things I liked about it the most were the great callbacks or nodes to the original series. You get Alpha 5 and his catchphrase "Aye Yai Yai". You get Jason say "Let's get em". You get Jason delivering the line "It's Morphin' Time." You get double kick moves and silly tag team moves when the Rangers are fighting. You get Rita Repulsa saying "Make my monster grow." AND THEY USE THE ORIGINAL GO GO POWER RANGERS SONG AT THE PERFECT TIME!!! All the subtle hints even with each Ranger wearing the same color clothes that their Rangers are and the way Billy claps when he gets happy about something scientific. There are more and a great wink to the audience at the end.
The film is really great camp fun. Yeah it has it's plot holes, choppy editing and some bad direction but because the characters are so likable you manage to forgive those mishaps. The film really does a great job of delivering home the message that they need to work as a team to accomplish the task at hand. That's how the Power Rangers succeed. The show was the same way. Even though some people are being critical about the pacing of the film I think it works extremely well. Most people wanted the Rangers to form into the suits earlier than they did but I think it was paced so well to allow the audience to fall in the love with the characters. Billy (The Blue Ranger) played by RJ Cyler was the standout character and stole the movie while Jason (The Red Ranger) played by Dacre Montgomery was a close second for me. When I was growing up and watching the original series, I always felt like I was supposed to connect with Zack (The Black Ranger) because he represented my culture but in the back of my mind I more connected with Billy (the Blue Ranger) because he was the nerd of the group. Now with this film I get to be both. The one character that I didn't really care for was Rita Repulsa played by Elizabeth Banks. It's not necessarily that she was bad but she just wasn't the Rita i liked from the series. She seemed to be playing a character that should have been in a horror movie like the Grudge. I understand the tone to make it more adult and dark for the villain but it just wasn't what i was expecting and it didn't mesh well with the Rangers. My other gripe was the "openly" gay portrayal of Trini. I would say she was closeted gay. Look I'm tired of these films just allowing the audience to guess at what the director is telling us about the character versus just blurting it out. Yes it's a PG-13 film and targeted to a younger audience but you can say the word gay without causing a stir. Or at least I wish you could. It's like Disney saying they have an openly gay character in the new Beauty and the Beast film but not openly saying it. Subtle hints in the film but then the director claiming "openly and obvious" terms in interviews or marketing doesn't work for me.
Overall the film is great and just a fun time. It bothers me that I can't get this same style of filmmaking from Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC Films or Fantastic Four for instance. This very well could be like the Transformers films where this first installment in the franchise is the best and the rest suck but at least they knocked it out of the park in the beginning!!! It's takes a campy cheesy 1990 series (that doesn't hold up today) to deliver the fun action for fans and newcomers alike. By the way if you ever want to see what it's like for a MegaZord to do a suplex (yes i said suplex) so great that only Adrian Armour (look him up) can deliver, go see this movie!!!
I'm giving this film 4/2 Stars!! It's not perfect but it morphs into so much goodness!!!
This movie delivers everything that a fan of the original series expects and should provide joy to the newcomers to this franchise. It has great character development by allowing us to get a glimpse into each character's backstory as to why they act the way they do. It's not a lot of backstory into each character but enough to get you attached to each one. It's action lives up to all the other big budget summer blockbuster films that are seen these days. Even when you watching the film and you see the typical cliche things start to happen, they put a spin on things to change it up unexpectedly. There were several times when I thought I knew what was going to happen but it didn't. Things I liked about it the most were the great callbacks or nodes to the original series. You get Alpha 5 and his catchphrase "Aye Yai Yai". You get Jason say "Let's get em". You get Jason delivering the line "It's Morphin' Time." You get double kick moves and silly tag team moves when the Rangers are fighting. You get Rita Repulsa saying "Make my monster grow." AND THEY USE THE ORIGINAL GO GO POWER RANGERS SONG AT THE PERFECT TIME!!! All the subtle hints even with each Ranger wearing the same color clothes that their Rangers are and the way Billy claps when he gets happy about something scientific. There are more and a great wink to the audience at the end.
The film is really great camp fun. Yeah it has it's plot holes, choppy editing and some bad direction but because the characters are so likable you manage to forgive those mishaps. The film really does a great job of delivering home the message that they need to work as a team to accomplish the task at hand. That's how the Power Rangers succeed. The show was the same way. Even though some people are being critical about the pacing of the film I think it works extremely well. Most people wanted the Rangers to form into the suits earlier than they did but I think it was paced so well to allow the audience to fall in the love with the characters. Billy (The Blue Ranger) played by RJ Cyler was the standout character and stole the movie while Jason (The Red Ranger) played by Dacre Montgomery was a close second for me. When I was growing up and watching the original series, I always felt like I was supposed to connect with Zack (The Black Ranger) because he represented my culture but in the back of my mind I more connected with Billy (the Blue Ranger) because he was the nerd of the group. Now with this film I get to be both. The one character that I didn't really care for was Rita Repulsa played by Elizabeth Banks. It's not necessarily that she was bad but she just wasn't the Rita i liked from the series. She seemed to be playing a character that should have been in a horror movie like the Grudge. I understand the tone to make it more adult and dark for the villain but it just wasn't what i was expecting and it didn't mesh well with the Rangers. My other gripe was the "openly" gay portrayal of Trini. I would say she was closeted gay. Look I'm tired of these films just allowing the audience to guess at what the director is telling us about the character versus just blurting it out. Yes it's a PG-13 film and targeted to a younger audience but you can say the word gay without causing a stir. Or at least I wish you could. It's like Disney saying they have an openly gay character in the new Beauty and the Beast film but not openly saying it. Subtle hints in the film but then the director claiming "openly and obvious" terms in interviews or marketing doesn't work for me.
Overall the film is great and just a fun time. It bothers me that I can't get this same style of filmmaking from Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC Films or Fantastic Four for instance. This very well could be like the Transformers films where this first installment in the franchise is the best and the rest suck but at least they knocked it out of the park in the beginning!!! It's takes a campy cheesy 1990 series (that doesn't hold up today) to deliver the fun action for fans and newcomers alike. By the way if you ever want to see what it's like for a MegaZord to do a suplex (yes i said suplex) so great that only Adrian Armour (look him up) can deliver, go see this movie!!!
I'm giving this film 4/2 Stars!! It's not perfect but it morphs into so much goodness!!!
