I honestly can’t believe that I’m saying this, but Power Rangers is pretty good. I was fully prepared to hate this film. I had pre-planned a bunch of jokes for this review and now I can’t use a goddamned one of them. I hated the trailers for this, as they did the film a disservice by making it seem like the movie was taking itself too seriously. I was also never a fan of the show; I recall watching it primarily for the original Pink Ranger, who was the epitome of hotness to ten-year-old me. So speaking as somebody without love for the source material and with expectations of a cinematic trainwreck, I can say that this is better than I ever expected a Power Rangers movie to be.
This is an origin story and I’ll briefly touch on the plot for the sake of anyone that didn’t grow up in the 90s. Power Rangers is the story of five teenagers that are called upon to be superheroes to defend the world from Rita Repulsa, who is bent on destroying the world for some reason (I vaguely remember her being some kind of space witch in the show, but that isn’t exactly the case here). Finding a space station (or something) run by a giant talking head (Zordon) and an oddly effeminate robot (Alpha 5), the teenagers are transformed into the Power Rangers and granted superpowers and bitchin’ giant dinosaur robots to control.
Yeah, the plot is ridiculous (you don’t quite realize how ridiculous until you attempt to write a summary like that). But the plots of all kids shows are ridiculous, so that’s beside the point. The refreshing thing about this movie is that it is primarily character-driven. Many recent reboots/remakes (Transformers and the modern Ninja Turtles, for instance) just throw excessive characters and explosive bullshit on screen as soon as possible and never bother to give the audience a reason to care. This movie actually takes its time and spends the majority of the running time developing the five Rangers and chronicling their development as a team. They don’t even suit up as the Rangers until the last act. That may piss off less patient viewers, but the effect is to create characters that aren’t just caricatures fighting cgi monsters. And the fights do eventually happen and are slightly Transformer-ish, which is unavoidable, I suppose. But even in the big fight at the end, the emphasis is on the kids learning to work together and adapt to their roles. It’s a shockingly well-structured script.
The tone is also spot-on. Many modern reboots are either too serious (Man of Steel or Legend of Tarzan, for example) or too goofy (the aforementioned Transformers and TMNT). This finds a nice balance between the two. The characters and threat are treated seriously (relatively speaking), but it never forgets its campy roots when it comes time to fight monsters or take command of a robotic T-Rex. The movie is fun without being too stupid. It’s like a blend between the darker tone of the original Ninja Turtles movie and the fun goofiness of the 80s Masters of the Universe.
This is also a rare instance when the biggest change from the source material is actually a good idea and that is with the personalities of the Rangers. In the original show, they were the kind of insanely squeaky-clean kids that seemed to exist mainly in Angel Grove and Bayside in the 90s. These were the kids that did a million after-school activities and were organizing a recycling drive or something while you and your friends were getting hammered. They were insufferable. These kids actually feel more like real people. They aren’t assholes, but they aren’t angels either. Most of them meet for the first time because they are all stuck in weekend detention, which gives the vibe of a superhero version of The Breakfast Club.
This isn’t a great movie, but it’s a case where even basic competence would have shocked me and this surpassed that. If you really hate the Power Rangers, this won’t change your mind. But if you are even a casual fan of the show, or just curious about it or want to take your kids to see something, I recommend seeing this in a theater. If not, it’s worth giving it a chance at home sometime. Oh, and keep an eye out for a cameo from Amy Jo Johnson, the original Pink Ranger. She is still gorgeous and ten-year-old me would be very happy about that.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Rangers_(film)#/media/File:Power_Rangers_(2017_Official_Theatrical_Poster).png
