Film REVIEW: "Saban's Power Rangers"

[Firaga 5,947]

 

Back again for the first time, for the last time... probably not the last time depending on my mood, but hey, I'm doing another review!

 

... You guys are going to read this one, right? I mean, I know you're probably busy with your everyday lives, but you know, I like writing these things and it kinda disheartens me that I keep seeing nobody really comment on them or anything. Yeah, views are a thing, but for me, actual written responses are much more valuable. I mean, am I not that good of a reviewer, do I need to do things differently? If that's true, then you can tell me that, but you actually do have to comment-okay okay, I'll stop. Just forget, let's just dive in.

 

So, when this movie was coming out way back, I did my best to cover as much news as possible because I was genuinely excited and was looking forward to seeing it when it come out... and of course, I missed it when it hit theaters because I'm a broke loser.

 

HOWEVER -- I got to see it finally! And now, I feel obligated to say my complete thoughts about it to honor those past threads I made about the news. So here we go.

 

Without further ado, IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!

 

 

THIS MOVIE IS MORPHENOMENOL!

 

Alright, maybe I'm riding the high a little bit post-watch but you know what, even if I was more level-headed, I would still be here to tell you that this movie is a fantastic love letter to the PR franchise and a great movie in its own right. I don't care if the twits in the mainstream didn't support it enough to warrant a good box office sale, the DVDs and toys are out! Buy them! This movie deserves a sequel. Saban needs to know that we need moar PR movies because this first one was epic!!

 

Okay okay, enough fanboying, let's try to be fair here and give a proper analysis... still, buy the shit, seriously-okay okay, moving on:

 

So, in a nutshell, this is an origin story of how the five teens who become the Power Rangers get their powers, meet their mentor Zordon and Alpha 5, and come together as a super fighting force to combat Zordon's nemesis Rita Repulsa and prevent her from destroying the world and all that. And I have to say, a lot of people bark on origin stories nowadays with the influx of superhero movies and having to introduce and set-up all their backstories, sometimes multiple times for the same person through reboots, but this was an origin story that is completely necessary.

 

Now, I watched the original MMPR and I like it just fine even though I and many other hardcore fans will tell you that there are far better seasons of PR that exist out there, but I will tell you for a fact that the weakest part of the show was the teenagers themselves. The actors who played them did fine and they had some semblance of personality between them, but at the end of the day, they weren't teenagers with attitude. They were a bunch of goody-two shoes who did charities and environmentalist crap and seemingly still had time to lead their own extracurricular activities and balance homework... I could barely deal with the homework part at that age.

 

These teenagers however are all real people. Yes, they're more moody and "edgy" compared to the original team, but guess what, that's how kids are, especially in high school. I should know, I was there and you can glorify that original team all you want, but they weren't reality, they were a fantasied Mary Sue version of teenagers through the eyes of the Mormon church. Not the movie's kids. All of them deal with real problems. Social problems, personal problems, mental problems, physical problems, problems with their parents, problems with other people in their school, you name it. And their attitudes reflect that as well. They don't always do the right thing, they're selfish, they're emotional, heck, their entire reason for getting their powers is because they were stupid and made a mistake. But it's a wrapped in an emotional core that is easily read by those who understand the complexity of their situations and environments, but they of course still develop over time the more you get to know them and the more they adjust to their new situation of being rangers and form a true organic friendship with one another.

 

Heck, even Zordon, the ultimate bastion of good that he was in the original show, is like this. As we see in the movie, he was the original Red Ranger and his team was wiped out by Rita (who was also the original Green Ranger, of course, given the hints we saw before the movie came out) and in turn was a former friend before she became evil and betrayed them all. Zordon took that personally and blamed himself for that loss, which is why he pressures the team as much as he does when they first get their powers because he needs them to be the team he wants them to be in order to correct his mistake. In fact, making up for mistakes is a huge theme in this movie and you can really see that in the parallels between Zordon and Jason, since he of course is the new Red Ranger and whose arc is also focused on correcting a mistake he made.

 

Rita herself is still pretty much an evil witch here, but oh ho ho boy... she ain't your mama's Rita, that's for sure. She is straight up mental, just the biggest measuring stick of pure unadulterated malice, and Elizabeth Banks sells the hell out of her material. Is she going more over the top than the movie really pertains given all the mature stuff I talked about? Maybe. But even then, there's this underling complexity to her given her relationship with Zordon. They don't really touch upon it in the movie, but you can definetly get a sense of some implied hostility and possible room for expansion that could take place in a future movie... which again you should totally support the brand so that a new movie can be made, seriously guys, buy everything, buyitbuyitbuyitbuyitbuyit--

 

Okay so, in terms of just a movie... the running time is about two hours so naturally there's a lot of stuff to cram in since this is, again, an origin flick. Dean Israelite's directing style is very clear cut and the entire thing is all about forward motion. There's a lot of show, don't tell that goes on even though there are some moments that are mostly dedicated to exposition but even those can be done well and I pretty much thought every moment that the movie did that was done well as well... well. Even so, I can understand if people may feel like some things were rushed, but you know what, it's an origin story, there's introduction stuff we need to get out of the way in order to provide set-up and all that, so again, it does its job. No moment is done without some kind of purpose and I love that kind of style. We don't need to see these teens screw around in high school or spend an entire scene in their houses with their families or any of that. Things like that are touched upon but it's done in a brisk and subtle way, and you need to be able to pick up on these things without it being spoon fed to you.

 

Okay, is there anything that I can complain about this movie? Well... to be honest, no. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, riding the hype, but honestly, all the things that this movie gets wrong IMO are so microscopic that I honestly don't want to acknowledge them.... alright, I'll mention some things,

 

1) Goldar's design and overall role... yeah, he's not a flying monkey or a griffin and he's basically an overgrown melting cheese putty... Still, Goldar had no character in the original show as he was just a mook who had an annoying voice and he curstomped the Rangers a few times so this doesn't really bug me as much as others. 2) The action was not plentiful, mostly done with unmorphed fighting and most of the actual PR stuff including the morphing and the zords and all that was kept for the third act, but I wanted to watch a movie about people I care about, not just people in suits and robots, so I didn't mind that. Now that the origin is done, there's room for even more action in future installments. 3) The more adult material... it's PG13 and its a darker take on the series, so that should be expected. 4) Alpha 5's design and overall character... Bill Hader. 'Nuff said. 5) Again, the stuff with Rita as well as some other jokes and moments here and there... look, you need Power Rangers cheesiness somewhere in this movie to still keep the source material respected and keep a balance so that it doesn't make it super serious and ruin the movie. 6) The Krispy Kreme advertisement. The movie played around with it a little, you gotta pay the bills, just... you know. It's just something that happens. 7) The Zord and Mega Zord designs? I still genuinely care about the people inside them so that more than makes up for it.

 

Alright, I think I've pretty much gotten my point across. I enjoyed the movie as both a PR fan and it did the source material justice. Minor annoyances are just that, minor, and if you think that reboots of old TV show into movies are always going to turn out bad, then think again. This is not a Bayformers or a TMNT or a Jem and the Holograms or any of that this. This is a real true blue well excecuted reboot that has potential to turn into a even more well executed franchise that could possibly even outshine the source it was based on.... seriously, buybuybuybuybubuybuy-okay I'm done.

 

Overall, I give this movie a solid 4/5. Give us moar Saban, I'm already thinking about how badass you can make Tommy Oliver.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Firaga

[catmaster0116 2,676]

I really enjoyed Ludi Lin's portrayal of the black ranger/Zack

it was a really nostalgic film!

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Oh, I remember when I watched this film earlier this year! In fact, I think that it was on the very same month it came out, which was March, I think!

 

Now, I grew up with Time Force and other seasons of the Rangers, so I didn't know all that much about the Mighty Morphin Seasons, except a few things, so this reboot pretty much served as an introduction of sorts to that team, ya know? As a film, I liked it because it had a good story and the characters were engaging and they weren't your cookie cutter good guys, because all of them had something different, and there was enough comedy and seriousness to balance things out, though some things were overbearingly cheesy, especially the Krispy Kreme advertising. It was a constant throughout the latter half of the film! I guess I wanted the film to be a tad bit more serious, but hey, the Rangers are supposed to have their cheesiness, as you said Firaga, so hey, that's that, I suppose!

 

The movie was great, and I loved the reference to Tommy Oliver at the end! Here's hoping a sequel definitely comes!

 

Oh, and I'm still not too much of a fan of the Rangers designs. They look too heavily CGI in my opinion, and the Zords could have looked better. But hey, better luck next time, right?

[twilight_roxas 326]

I agree with a sequel. Heck I hope the sequel introduces a reboot design of Lord Zedd.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I agree with a sequel. Heck I hope the sequel introduces a reboot design of Lord Zedd.

 

Well, since Zedd was a big deal in Might Morphin Power Rangers, he should be in the sequel, ya know? I just hope they make Zedd look badass if the studio decides to put him as the next villain!

[twilight_roxas 326]

Same with a reboot design of his zord Serpentera.

[BlankShell 638]

I thought the Megazord was a little underwhelming but seeing the Zords run out to "Go Go Power Rangers" was pretty damn fantastic. It was a bit of a mishmash tonally, but I think part of that could just have been setting things up for more films, which I'd like to get.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I thought the Megazord was a little underwhelming but seeing the Zords run out to "Go Go Power Rangers" was pretty damn fantastic. It was a bit of a mishmash tonally, but I think part of that could just have been setting things up for more films, which I'd like to get.

 

Yeah, the Megazord could've been done better. The ones in the shows looked more badass, but hey, that's just my opinion! And yes, I agree, the "Go Go Power Rangers" theme was definitely a nostalgic calling!

 

Whatever happens, let's hope that more films are made! With Tommy being teased at the end, it'd be harsh to just leave things up in the air like that, ya know?