BurtonReviews Power Ranger: Go Go Reboot

School’s ended and there’s only one thing on your mind. You run out of your class to your parents. You pull on their hands, shirts, legs, begging for them to get you home as quick as possible, because you know it’s almost time. You’re in your car, bouncing off the bumper seat with excitement as you near home. You make it. Your mum begins to slowly open the car door. As soon as you see a you-shaped gap you make a break for it. You zoom to the house, leap through the front door and drop your school bag at the bottom of the stairs. You sit down before the almighty TV, turn it on, and those epic cords ring through the front room, and inside, you know what time it is, and you’re ready. It’s mother-loving Morphing-Time!

(Imager sourced from http://powerrangers.wikia.com/wiki/Power_Rangers_(2017))

 

Power Rangers holds a special place in my heart, starting at a very young age and finally deciding to quit the obsession way too long after I should have, I absorbed about five generations of the cheesetastic show that filled my brain with nothing but explosive Kung-Fu moves, literally. So when Saban and Lionsgate announced they were making a film rebooting the original Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, I, with the rest of the internet, grimaced and just waited for the horrible betrayal of my childhood to be released in theatres. But then the trailers came out showcasing a weirdly cool and unbelievably grounded approach to the brightly coloured spandex wearing team. And you know what, I couldn’t help but be excited, plus put Kanye West’s Power into anything and I’ll be hyped. So the fateful day has come. Will I find a dino-themed knife stuck right into my childhood’s back, or will my face hurt from making a childish grin for two hours straight? There’s only one way to find out!

(Video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kIe6UZHSXw)

 

Power Rangers follows Jason (Darce Montgomery), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Billy (RJ Cyler), Trini (Becky G.), and Zach (Ludi Lin), as these teens with attitude discover five unique brightly coloured coins that give them super strength and agility. With the help of Bryan Cranston’s face irrupting from the wall of a crashed alien space craft, or Zordon, as he’s known in the film, these five teens will learn to unlock their full potential and become the primary coloured Power Rangers. Just in time to stop an evil force, in the creepy form of Rita (Elizabeth Banks), destroying the whole world of course.

Probably the most surprising thing about this movie is that, even though the synopsis sounds like a typical episode of the dated show we all know and love, this doesn’t really feel like the cheese fest we all thought it would be. From the atmosphere and the gritty visual style alone, the film decisively commits to being a more grounded and thoughtful Power Rangers origin story. And it surprisingly really worked.

This isn’t a mindless film thrown out there just to make money, a lot of the shots and cinematography employed by Matt Lloyd are really impressive and not at all what I was expecting. From the very start of the film Lloyd moves and angles the camera in interesting and refreshing ways.

(Image sourced from http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/power-rangers/48161/power-rangers-review)

But outside of the great cinematography, the gritty atmosphere also gives this film a special feeling that helps the world of the Power Rangers become a tangible and relatable one that, while is taking itself seriously, isn’t afraid to dive into the fun and more outlandish aspects of the original show.

It is this grounded quality that really helps elevate the original Rangers from their cardboard 90s counter parts, to actually realised, living, breathing characters. Each member of the team had a really interesting backstory that was both surprisingly mature and well handled with modern issues that aren’t explored much in mainstream films, but are really done with respect here.

All of this, and the great ensemble acting on show from most of the cast, really made these teens with attitude a likeable group of friends that you wish you were a part of and believed would run into a fight for one another.

(Image sourced from http://variety.com/2016/film/news/power-rangers-first-photo-1201721860/)

While the film breathed new life into the Power Rangers themselves, they also did something interesting with the villain of the film, Rita. Instead of the cringey stereotype of the 90s, here Rita was a scary presences on screen that brought a nice sprinkling of horror into the film that was more than welcome.

Another surprise this film had up its sleeve was its copyrighted soundtrack. Unlike Suicide Squad, which advertised the hell out of its massive soundtrack and then proceeded to cram most of it into the first 15 minutes of the film; Power Rangers rode in like the dark horse of the soundtrack off between Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad, and effortlessly impressed with a huge selection of not only great songs, but ones that were used at the appropriate times.

Instead of distracting from the film like in Suicide Squad, Power Rangers’ soundtrack used songs, like 21 Pilots’ We Don’t Believe What’s on TV, to help heighten moments and bring an appropriately youthful and energetic feel to events. And again, put Kanye West’s Power into anything, and I’m going to get excited.

(Image sourced from http://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/03/20/power-rangers-review)

Sadly though, while the soundtrack was bursting with great contributions, the actual score of the film left a lot to be desired. Brian Tyler’s work here felt too generic and didn’t add anything new to the tried formula of a superhero team’s theme.

But the score wasn’t the only place where the film disappointed. The pacing of the film from the half way point onwards was a real issue. Less so at first, but the middle of the film really does begin to feel like it is dragging. With just a couple of the training montages taken out, and more momentum pumped into the inevitable suiting up of our athletic heroes, the film would have felt a lot smoother, and had my attention in its grasp a lot tighter.

Sadly the pacing issue continues into the explosive finale of the film. Finally the Rangers suit up, themes are screaming and flip kicks are being delivered. But then they suddenly jump into their massive robot animals (their Zords), and now they’re the massive humanoid robot (Mega Zord).

(Image sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzaK0ScRN4)

While the action that does happen is cool and had me smiling like a little boy again, fist pumping for team work and badass explosions, these cool moments of action are skipped over way too fast. No phase of battle is allowed the appropriate time to sit and bask in how epic it was. Instead the movie barrels through the final battle, just missing goosebump level, and leaving me happy at what I just saw, but feeling slightly off about the whole thing.  

But one major positive about when the team suits up is that the suits are freaking cool. I loved the alien speed biker look of the rangers in a strange way that even I don’t quite understand. All I do know is, is that when the team slow-mo walked out, head to toe in epic space-war armour, I was totally in the moment and high on the excitement of them finally becoming the one, the only, Power Rangers.

So the movie did have its problems, and after all it is a movie called Power Rangers. But the surprising amount of care and thought that was put into the films characters, atmosphere and cinematography, coupled with how damn cool the Power Rangers looked once it was time to kick ass and explode some giant monsters, really took me off guard and had me way more into the film than I thought I would be.

Power Rangers = 7.5/10

Why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q