Power Rangers (2017)
Dean Israelite
Writers:
John Gatins, Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney. Based upon characters created by Haim Saben, and Shuki Levy.
Cast:
Dacre Montgomery (Jason-Red Ranger), Naomi Scott (Kimberly-Pink Ranger), RJ Cyler (Billy-Blue Ranger), Ludi Lin (Zack-Black Ranger), Becky G. (Trini-Yellow Ranger), Elizabeth Banks (Rita Repulsa), Bryan Cranston (Zordon), and Bill Hader as Alpha 5.
Opening Credits:
The evolution of the Power Rangers; It all started back in the day; 1993 a TV series came out around the world known as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The 30 min show had an underground following. The show lasted from 1993-1999. Afterwards came a fury of shows, more Power Rangers but different versions of them. Power Rangers Zeo (1996-1997), a small movie in 1997 called Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Power Rangers: Turbo (1997-1998), Power Rangers in Space (1998-1999), Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1999-2000), Power Rangers Lightspeed Resque (2000-2001), Power Rangers Time Force (2001-2015), Power Rangers Wild Force (2002-2003), Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003-2004).
Believe it or not there are much more Power Ranger shows, so you can see the evolution from the very beginning leading up to the film in 2017.
The older shows merged the Japanese fight scenes with the American actors; it happened 1993 and thanks to an American production company called Saben Entertainment. The original name was Super Sentai, it became the American Power Rangers. The entertainment values from these shows drew in a crowd, it became something more than a bunch of kids in a colored suit. Like it or hate it the Power Rangers are here to stay with us, or at least till it dies down.
Review:
The Cenozoic Era on Earth. The Rangers have just battled, Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) the Green Ranger seeks the Zeo crystal, and world domination. She confronts Zordon (Bryan Cranston) the Red Ranger to accept her offer so that together they would control the world. The Red Ranger refuses, and as he does the other coins are hidden away from Repulsa's grasp, only the chosen will have these coins of power. The explosion takes Rita Repulsa to the ocean, along with the Dragon coin.
The beginning of the film we get a nice introduction to the new characters that would eventually find the coins of power and become the Rangers. Jason (Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Billy (Cj Cyler), Zack (Ludi Lin), and Trini (Becky G.). These guys found a desolate place where they can reflect upon whatever issue they got as teens.
Jason the Red Ranger had major problems to begin with; Running away from the Police, and sneaking a cow into another school, as a prank. The different shots as Jason tries to escape from the law looked pretty good. The intense moment, and panic was noted. The high school teen former QB went from being a star to being under house arrest. Granted i understood what the film makers wanted at this point. A grim back drop to what supposed to be a light movie. So yes the leader of the team has some dark skeletons in his closet, but was it right for the film? What if they went lighter?Keep the film simple like the show and maybe things might have gone differently.
Kimberly the Pink Ranger has problems as well, she gets kicked out of the Cheer leading squad for punching out her friends tooth. Because of an explicit picture that was sent in confidence, unfortunately it was spread by Kimberly. The issues are pretty bad, but what if the problem is not the the main issue here, which is the picture.
The Pink Ranger should've been a nerd, or a chick who loves watching martial arts movies. Maybe the lighter side of things would've been the saving grace, just like Jason's character, her motives were dark because the script called for really flawed character. But sometimes those flaws make us uniquely better than what we might think. She wasn't just the only one with flaws, move on. Kimberly had problems, but they made it slow, and focused on the flaws of each character, which wasn't wrong but took way to long, which killed the story. OK the characters have problems, but move on and get on with the story.
So not going to go into each flawed character, but the two above are examples of how badly the studio wanted a darker tone, which failed. The main reasoning behind the failure is simply because they over complicated it. In the series the teens were just teens, yes they had flaws but they weren't depressing to the point of no return. If you wanted a dark tone, then continue with it. The film bounced from one tone to another. They focused on the Rangers to much and poor Rita had very little screen time. The bad ass gal from outer space goes around and kills people for gold in order to get stronger. Would've loved more scenes with Rita, she was pure joy in the series, but to see her evolve here would've been a cool thing. So the film makers yet again manage to flop things by not giving a major villain substance. She was bland, and i really didn't care when she showed up anyway.
Here it goes my version of the Power Rangers. What if the heroes were possessed by the coins of power. The Rangers who had died in combat possess the new chosen ones. That would make sense because the teens don't know how to fight, which should't be an issue now. The strength, power of the coins they had found which is alien in nature, would take them over, only enough to understand things. That would change things a bit, and speed up the process so that the story could flow and not hit walls with each turn. I would not make a movie PG-13 if it wasn't needed. Darker tones doesn't mean a couple bad words or what ever. It means the movie is serious, and the tone is dark. When Rita kills, she kills. Ramp the gore, and make her he true bad guy she deserves to be.
The film had so much build up and to much back story that there was only 22 minutes of action, and that was the last Act. The whole Zords (Big giant animal robots) each Zord when they unite become a Megazord. Rita Replusa (Elizabeth Banks) searching for the Zeo crystal which is beneath the ground in a Krispy Kreme. So a mystic crystal that could destroy the world is under a Krispy Kreme. Why would you write that stuff even if it is a sponsor. So after the whole background drama, the Rangers must work together in order to Morph, which takes a very long time because all the Rangers are morons. Doesn't take Einstein to figure out how to Morph. The whole concept behind the Power Rangers is guess what? Working together, finding a way out of the maze by uniting. Wow! That wasn't to difficult but the writers had to complicate the story, so much that it killed the film.
The Power Rangers should've been a lighter film; Leave in the corny parts, and especially keep the main characters real, but light. They have problems, but make them simple. The show was simple, and yet it was very successful throughout the years. The show has a huge following; Unfortunately the movie didn't follow suit. The film just had to many issues. A major one was the special effects. Granted the older TV series didn't have a budget to have good effects, this film had no excuse. The Megazord connection was so bad. They had the money and yet the studio continued with the mistakes.
Power Rangers has been in and out of the TV and film medium, and that stands for something. The film had a budget, and yet the film was PG-13 and for what. Time wasted getting to the final battle with Rita Repulsa, realizing that the Zeo Crystal in under a Krispy Cream. The end of the world scenario, and still the Ranger team can't really do anything but fight like a bunch of 3 year old children. All in all i really don't recommend this film because of the direction the studio took the film, If you're going to be taken seriously then don't just goof off the second half of the film and on. Do it, no matter what happens, and trust your product. The show trusted the product enough to expand the world of the colored warriors.
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