Movie: "Power Rangers"
Director: Dean Israelite
Runtime: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Release Date: March 24
Grade: B+
The generation that grew up watching Power Rangers is going to be pretty happy with this film reboot of its beloved show. Expecting a cheesy (and slightly cringeworthy) two-hour movie about colorful rangers who jump around and karate chop bad guys, I was happily disappointed.
Director Dean Israelite took a huge show that had many different versions and concepts and picked a few and expounded on them — making a funny movie that was worth a watch.
For the true Power Rangers fans out there, there are a few things that differ from the original series — some for the better and others not so much. The power ranger armor in the movie is pretty sick. In the old Power Rangers, the costumes were often really bulky and not cool. The girls also always wore something feminine (a skirt or really tight armor) but in the movie, the five rangers are almost identical besides color. The humor and language are more mature, with a few inappropriate jokes that probably went over the heads of those under the age of 13. This, however, appealed to older audience members and added a lot of character development. The gang of rangers was also filled with troublemakers, three of whom first met in detention at school. Unlike the originals, the red ranger, Jason — played by Dacre Montgomery — was the biggest troublemaker, but redeems himself by the end of the movie when he saves the world and gets his act together. The concept of the togetherness of the team is far more prevalent here than in the old versions, which adds a lot to the plot as they become friends.
The character development was the best part. Some of it was cliche, but a lot of it was actually pretty good and made the audience connect and identify with the characters as the movie progressed.
The character that everyone falls in love with instantly is the blue ranger, Billy, played by RJ Cyler. Within the first few scenes of meeting Jason, Billy implies that he is on the autism spectrum. This adds to his character throughout the movie, although his lines are often made humorous because of it, which problematized the movie's attempt at positive representation of autism.
Each of the rangers gets their own back story. This did take up a lot of time, but unlike backstories from a lot of other action movies, these were interesting and played directly into the movie.
Even their mentor Zordon, played by Bryan Cranston, gets a backstory of sorts. Although he was not a very likable character throughout the movie, his character is redeemed when he makes a huge sacrifice for the rangers. The "bad guy" archetype, who happens to be a girl in this case, is one of the cheesiest parts of the movie. Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks, gets the best makeup in the movie. She starts off the film as a corpse being pulled from the ocean and, as she (literally) eats gold, she gets more and more beautiful, though it’s a very harsh and scary beauty by the end. She plays the crazy, evil character extremely well, and was scary throughout the whole film.
Overall, the movie was definitely worth watching. Expecting a cheesy, half-put-together movie, I was delighted to find myself on the edge of my seat, rooting for the main characters and crying with them (yeah, crying). The special effects were insane and the plot was pretty solid.
The best part of the movie, hands down, is toward the end when it's reaching its climax and you see the rangers in their giant machinery, charging into battle and then the "Power Rangers" theme plays. It only lasts a few seconds, but it makes the film worth watching.
At the end of the movie, if you stay after the credits, there is an extra scene. The teacher overseeing detention is calling a name and the camera pans to an empty desk. The name that is being called is Tommy Oliver. Is this the sixth power ranger? Let's hope so. The fight isn’t over for this team of outsiders. And next time they face evil, there will be another one joining them.