Power Rangers - directed by Dean Israelite
I am not at all familiar with Power Rangers as a property.
I'm aware that there was (is?) a show and that at least parts of it were filmed in my part of the world and even starred some Kiwi actors at various times.
Otherwise I could not tell you the colours of the heroes, what their powers are, the villains or in fact anything at all to do with the universe they reside in.
I can't be sure but after seeing this big budget feature film based on the tv shows I suspect that knowing very little going in is a big plus.
I had no preconceived notions and was actually pretty interested to see what the fuss is about.
What is quickly apparent when "Power Rangers" begins is that a fair amount of money has been spent on this film.
The start is basically a car chase with some vertiginous in-car camera work that seems inspired by the similar (but far better) shot in "Children Of Men".
There is also an off colour joke about an ahem... one teated 'cow' milking that points to one of the failings of the film.
Tone.
The rating indicates that this film is aimed at teenagers and by virtue of the fact that the heroes are in that age bracket and struggle with issues relating to sexuality, mental illness and fitting in in the modern world generally it isn't a bad approach.
But there is a gloominess to the whole film and a lack of levity that is at odds with the property.
No matter what themes you try to lay into it you cannot escape the core of this movie and that is that ancient aliens are fighting an evil woman named Rita Repulsor and have buried some glowing, coloured stones that will find suitable heroes to imbue with special powers.
But you see there are also giant, morphing robots, teenaged rebellion and a team of superheroes.
It sounds like "The Breakfast Club" meets "The Avengers" with a dose of "Transformers" and honestly that is not too far off the mark.
The five heroes who will become the Power Rangers spend a chunk of their lives in the same after school detention for various reasons.
Each will eventually reveal why they are exhibiting 'behavioral problems', one will become the defacto leader and many lessons about teamwork and honour will be learned.
That is a lot to pack into a 2 hour origin movie and the film is not particularly successful at achieving the goal.
It takes a fair bit of time to get the team to discovering the buried, magical stones, a bunch more to bring them up to speed with their powers and why they need them and of course we still need a big finish.
I like that the film takes its time to build character but it doesn't really manage to give each Power Ranger much of a story and the time taken comes at a cost.
This feels like the two hour movie that it is.
It is effectively competing with the likes of "The Fast and the Furious" and "Transformers" and while this film is better edited and shot it delivers considerably less bang for the buck than either of those.
That lack of spectacle is a poor fit for this kind of movie.
It's made worse by characters that I didn't really care about with problems because their defining issues were skimmed over at best.
There is a blink and you'll miss it moment where the yellow Power Ranger Trini explains that her preference for women is at odds with her parents views and Billy the blue Ranger is on the autism spectrum.
Red Ranger Jason has some sort of issue that resulted in a fall from grace as the hero quarterback of the town's football team but for the life of me I don't know what it is.
And Kimberly the Purple Ranger seems to be just a normal teenaged girl prone to frequent bursts of bitchiness!
And so it goes - poorly explored character moments that should have been rolled into the action more so that the movie doesn't feel bogged down for three quarters of its running time and rushed to all hell for the remainder.
It's not all bad though.
The performances are decent (RJ Cyler from "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a standout... again) and some of the visual effects are inventive and effective.
I wasn't bored as such and there is just about enough entertainment if you have diminished expectations as I did.
But is this enough for this film to function as the franchise starter that Lionsgate almost certainly need it to be with that hefty budget?
For me that is a no.
It's a decent film and a suitable diversion but these things don't put bums on seats or provide the word of mouth required to get the non-fan along to see it.
"Power Rangers" is much better than it could have been but not nearly as good as it needs to be.
RATING: 70 / 100
CONCLUSION: Some good ideas and the attempts at building character are admirable. If only the execution was not so hit and miss. The tone is what really dooms the long term prospects of "Power Rangers" though- it is not 'fun' enough by some margin.
Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G., Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, Bill Hader (voice), David Denman, Cody Kearsley, Robert Moloney, Anjali Jay, Sarah Grey, Morgan Taylor Campbell, Wesley MacInnes, John Stewart, Fiona Fu
Screenplay: John Gatins
Music Score by: Brian Tyler
Cinematography: Matthew J. Lloyd
Edited by: Martin Bernfeld & Dody Dorn
Running Time: 124 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence & very mild profanity
Running Time: 124 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence & very mild profanity
I'm aware that there was (is?) a show and that at least parts of it were filmed in my part of the world and even starred some Kiwi actors at various times.
Otherwise I could not tell you the colours of the heroes, what their powers are, the villains or in fact anything at all to do with the universe they reside in.
I can't be sure but after seeing this big budget feature film based on the tv shows I suspect that knowing very little going in is a big plus.
I had no preconceived notions and was actually pretty interested to see what the fuss is about.
What is quickly apparent when "Power Rangers" begins is that a fair amount of money has been spent on this film.
The start is basically a car chase with some vertiginous in-car camera work that seems inspired by the similar (but far better) shot in "Children Of Men".
There is also an off colour joke about an ahem... one teated 'cow' milking that points to one of the failings of the film.
Tone.
The rating indicates that this film is aimed at teenagers and by virtue of the fact that the heroes are in that age bracket and struggle with issues relating to sexuality, mental illness and fitting in in the modern world generally it isn't a bad approach.
But there is a gloominess to the whole film and a lack of levity that is at odds with the property.
No matter what themes you try to lay into it you cannot escape the core of this movie and that is that ancient aliens are fighting an evil woman named Rita Repulsor and have buried some glowing, coloured stones that will find suitable heroes to imbue with special powers.
But you see there are also giant, morphing robots, teenaged rebellion and a team of superheroes.
 |
| Dacre Montgomery, RJ Cyler, Naomi Scott, Becky G and Ludi Lin |
The five heroes who will become the Power Rangers spend a chunk of their lives in the same after school detention for various reasons.
Each will eventually reveal why they are exhibiting 'behavioral problems', one will become the defacto leader and many lessons about teamwork and honour will be learned.
That is a lot to pack into a 2 hour origin movie and the film is not particularly successful at achieving the goal.
It takes a fair bit of time to get the team to discovering the buried, magical stones, a bunch more to bring them up to speed with their powers and why they need them and of course we still need a big finish.
I like that the film takes its time to build character but it doesn't really manage to give each Power Ranger much of a story and the time taken comes at a cost.
This feels like the two hour movie that it is.
It is effectively competing with the likes of "The Fast and the Furious" and "Transformers" and while this film is better edited and shot it delivers considerably less bang for the buck than either of those.
 |
| Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsor and far right- Bryan Cranston as Zordon |
It's made worse by characters that I didn't really care about with problems because their defining issues were skimmed over at best.
There is a blink and you'll miss it moment where the yellow Power Ranger Trini explains that her preference for women is at odds with her parents views and Billy the blue Ranger is on the autism spectrum.
Red Ranger Jason has some sort of issue that resulted in a fall from grace as the hero quarterback of the town's football team but for the life of me I don't know what it is.
And Kimberly the Purple Ranger seems to be just a normal teenaged girl prone to frequent bursts of bitchiness!
And so it goes - poorly explored character moments that should have been rolled into the action more so that the movie doesn't feel bogged down for three quarters of its running time and rushed to all hell for the remainder.
It's not all bad though.
The performances are decent (RJ Cyler from "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a standout... again) and some of the visual effects are inventive and effective.
I wasn't bored as such and there is just about enough entertainment if you have diminished expectations as I did.
But is this enough for this film to function as the franchise starter that Lionsgate almost certainly need it to be with that hefty budget?
For me that is a no.
It's a decent film and a suitable diversion but these things don't put bums on seats or provide the word of mouth required to get the non-fan along to see it.
"Power Rangers" is much better than it could have been but not nearly as good as it needs to be.
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