Action, Sci-Fi
Directed By: Dean Israelite
Before you ask the answer is yes, I grew up a fan of the Power Rangers. So much so that you can easily find photo's of me in my full body 'Red Ranger' costume as a kid... and not just on Halloween. That being said, I never found myself getting too excited about the properties first big Hollywood movie. Not that I didn't want to see what a $100 million morphin' time looked like, I just didn't have much faith that they would do the show justice, and by that I mean I believed they would lose the bonkers reality that the property exists in. Bonkers like Elizabeth Banks summoning a giant beast made of gold to destroy the planet's life crystals...
This is a full on origins story that introduces us to this new team of rangers for the first time. Jason (Dacre Montgomery) lands himself in weekend detention for the remainder of his senior year after a prank on a rival school goes wrong. Here, the former star quarterback meets Billy (RJ Cyler) who takes him, as well as three other classmates Kimberly (Naomi Scott) Zack (Ludi Lin) and Trini (Becky G.), to something he has found at a nearby gold mine. Five coins that transform them into the Power Rangers, defenders of Earth. They must protect it from the evil Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) who seeks to destroy all life on the planet.
It probably seems like a lot but It's all really simple if you're open to its goofy concepts. There's a lot of funny names and silly back story to be set up and they do it all quickly and clearly, so you don't have to worry about any of that going in. This is a YA property, so don't expect much from the dialogue as I fear Hollywood will never understand how young people actually talk, There are some truly awful lines in this movie but thankfully everything going on around them allows for it.
Power Rangers never pretends to be more than it is and it fully embraces the lunacy of this world. From the moment they find the coins and receive their "super powers" (because oh yeah, they are superheroes now, which is actually really cool) it fully sells the fantasy. It also never seems to slow down from this moment, continually ramping up to its epically scaled finale. We get a lot in the middle of the kids exploring their powers and training for their mission, which is a ton of fun and goes a long way in making us care about the team without ever slowing the pace of the story.
Sure they add in a few new twists to the origin, and sure they are ripping off some key plot elements from some other fairly recent movies... but it all works and considering the original came from a campy children's show there was room for improvement. They kept what worked best for the show then and blended it with some of what works best now and the final product is exactly what a lot of fans have been waiting for.
The largest key to making a silly concept like this work in a modern movie setting is to have people both in front of and behind the camera that truly care about what they are doing. From the director Dean Israelite down to Bill Hader's voice acting as Alpha 5, every person is putting out 100%. This means everything when the climax of your movie revolves around Elizabeth Banks in an absurd green costume trying to destroy the world. She's absolutely crushing every second of screen time she is given and single-handedly elevates the entire story. Her early scenes feel like they are out of some twisted horror film and she is absolutely terrifying in a way I didn't expect from this.
Quality performances are crucial for this movie to succeed, the dialogue they are being given is cheesy and on the nose and their characters equally as much. It's up to them to sell us on them and make us buy into a universe where these kids can receive special abilities to defend the planet from otherworldly foes trying to steal our source of life. It's a movie that is excited to embrace its true nature and go all-out being something they know will certainly not be for everyone.
Let's be clear about it, this movie isn't winning any awards for the screenplay, and rightfully so. It's a cheesy teen property that should be handled as such. The admittedly cringe-worthy dialogue and plot turns that comes out at times will clock some movie goers out, and that's understandable, you have to want to buy into the concept or you'll be out from square one. It's a weird movie, there's no denying that, but for the people who are looking for something gleefully bonkers out of this porperty you will find so much to love here.
Leaving the theater I was refreshed to have seen a major IP allow itself to be made for a specific group of moviegoers and just have fun in doing so. With every big superhero movie out these days doing whatever it can to be taken seriously I was thrilled to watch one that screamed: "LOOK AT ME! IM WEIRD AS FUCK AND I DONT CARE WHO SEE'S IT". Hate this movie if you want but I am simply thrilled to have seen the Megazord come to life, in turn giving me a glimmer of hope for a Voltron movie in the future. This is more fun than a majority of the blockbuster films released last year and I can't believe I'm actually excited about a massive Power Rangers franchise.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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