REVIEW: Go Go Rebooted Rangers
If one were to take the teens from “The Breakfast Club,” give them mighty morphin powers and place them in an edgier reboot of a ’90s classic television show, Saban’s “Power Rangers” would be the result.
While still providing fans of the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” series with plenty of campy dialogue and references worthy of a #throwbackThursday social media post, the recently released film offers newcomers a chance to see the movie without getting lost in nostalgia.
The Dean Israelite directed film opens with a scene, set in the Cenozoic Era, of the aftermath of a showdown between the Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), and her fellow Power Rangers. Zordon (Bryan Cranston), the Red Ranger, buries the rangers’ power coins before ordering his assistant, Alpha 5 (Bill Hader), to summon a meteor strike.
Going forward 65 million years, Rita resurfaces and is itching to find the Zeo Crystal beneath a Krispy Kreme, located in Angel Grove. Meanwhile, the audience becomes introduced to a new era of the Power Rangers franchise.
As an origin story, Saban’s “Power Rangers” spends the majority of the 124 minutes of running time on fleshing out the teens with attitude.
From the start, it is made clear who among the new rangers the producers wanted to focus on. Red Ranger Jason (Dacre Montgomery), Blue Ranger Billy (RJ Cyler) and Pink Ranger Kimberly (Naomi Scott) are the only ones of the team of five to be introduced within the first 15 minutes. The audience gets acquainted with Yellow Ranger Trini (Becky G) and Black Ranger Zack (Ludi Lin), but only to a certain extent.
It is worth noting that a prominent aspect of this reboot is the diversity displayed amongst the new Power Rangers. Unlike their 90’s namesakes, the rebooted rangers are not stereotyped by skin color to color of their suit. In addition, Billy reveals himself to be on the Autism spectrum while Trini hints at questioning her sexuality.
In the original television series, the rangers baring the same names were not as three-dimensional. However, even though the John Gatins written film boldly takes on the mission of developing the characters beyond their archetypes, the outcome left many questions without clear answers.
Coinciding with the rebooted core characters, the film as a whole takes on a darker and edgier tone. Deaths, let alone talk of murder, within the film are set to jolt any nostalgic fan of the television series back to reality.
Saban’s “Power Rangers” doesn’t shy away from blunt innuendos or showing the rangers in a less than wholesome light. While some may not approve of this redirection of the franchise’s tone, the change is necessary to move the rebooted film series forward.
Even though the original series maintained a campy “together we are one” mentality that was successful for its time, the reboot’s “together we are more” tagline proves to be more relevantly impactful.
Essentially, the film rangers each have a backstory and struggles that go beyond protecting Earth and the Zeo Crystal from the revived Rita. However, when they use their individual strengths together, they metaphorically become more than teenagers with attitude.
In terms of overall plot, the film provided enough to keep one from completely bolting for the nearest exit, but it did leave plenty of unanswered curiosity in regards to the characters and plot points.
The saving grace of the film was Banks, who took on the role of Rita with the perfect amount of disturbing and comical campiness. As for the rangers, Cyler’s portrayal of the Blue Ranger gives the film a needed amount of heart and naiveté.
Israelite’s vision for the “Power Rangers” is one not necessarily expected by longtime fans, but is a welcome reminder of what made the television series iconic.
One can “Go Go” see Saban’s “Power Rangers” in theaters now.
Also published on Medium.
