Teenagers from the 90’s probably found themselves drawn to the rainbow-colored suits fighting colorless monsters that populated their televisions at some point. This new take on the Power Rangers manages to deliver a lot of what the old show did while making it feel new and a little edgier. The costumes are modernized, the Zords are never called out by name, and Alpha 5 is a little less annoying. Be excited fans of the franchise as this is a Power Ranger film you can get behind.
Power Rangers delivers what is sets out to
Jason (Dacre Montgomery) finds himself having to attend Saturday school in order to graduate on time after making some dumb choices. He comes to the aid of Billy (RJ Cyler) after a bully harasses him. The new-found friendship runs into Trini (Becky G.), Zack (Ludi Lin), and Kimberly (Naomi Scott) where the five discover these coins that give them “super powers.” They are drawn to the area and find a spaceship, Alpha 5 (Bill Hader), and Zordon (Bryan Cranston) who warns them of Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) and her plans to destroy the world.
The big names here all do great in their take on the characters. Elizabeth Banks plays Rita campy enough to remind fans of the old show. Yet, she’s her own version of the character and is often pretty over-the-top crazy. It works well in this world and her manic character is believable, powerful and threatening. Cranston works perfect as Zordon and Hader uses his voice talents to make Alpha 5 similar, but far less annoying, to his predecessor.
The rangers are actually all likable a feat the original series never truly managed to achieve. Most fans of the show loved the Green Ranger, Tommy, and enjoyed some of the others, but Jason never really seemed to be a fan favorite. In this version, while the characters mainly fall into archetypes, they all have personalities and flaws that make them relatable and people you want to root for. In fact, the film cares enough about the people under the costumes that it takes a long time before they actually get to morph. Somehow, this film managed to still be enjoyable despite not seeing them fighting rock people in their armor for most of the film.
Final Thoughts…
If you never liked the idea of the Power Rangers then you’ll probably hate this film. However, if you like any of the Michael Bay Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this film will remind you of those if Bay ever bothered with character development. There are easter eggs a plenty, some great product placement, and some cool action. RJ Cyler is a great comic relief and heart of the team, and Jason is actually likeable. Power Rangers earns the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
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