Power Rangers

When it comes to making an adaptation of a popular brand, arguably the most crucial element to remember is how to make it connect with its target audience. A product should never be restricted from evolving and they need to be able to bring new audiences in as well, but if a fan base has a connection with said material, its important to recognize that and reward them by capturing and producing something that connects with them as equally. But like any property, what works for some doesn’t always work for others and these kind of different tastes can make it hard to appeal to a large majority when it comes to something as broad as pop culture. So, with this in mind, what happens when a movie based on a popular brand is only great to those that don’t like said brand? The 2017 Power Rangers film asked that very question. In the town of Angel Grove, five teenagers (which actual attitude this time) named Jason (played by Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly (played by Naomi Scott), Billy (played by RJ Cyler), Zack (played by Ludi Lin) and Trini (played by Becky G) by happenstance come across an abandoned mine that seems to house five strange objects that look like power coins. After waking up from a dangerous crash, the five discover that they now have superpowers and return to the mine to discover an alien vessel buried underneath which houses a being known as Zordon (played by Bryan Cranston), the leader of a group known as the Power Rangers that defended the planet eons ago from intergalactic threats. He informs the five that one of his own members, Rita Repulsa (played by Elizabeth Banks) has turned evil and is trying to raise her gold minion Goldar and find the whereabouts of the Zeo Crystal, a power source that has the potential to destroy Earth if it is taken. The five have to evolve from strangers to best friends and learn how to become power rangers in order to stop Rita and her plot, but with a limited time and having no luck with activating their power suits, can they succeed? With a franchise as expansive, long-lasting, and as well-beloved as Power Rangers, this new cinematic reboot becoming a box office failure and a laughing stock from die hard fans isn’t a good sign. The movie actually has a lot of good things going for it with a strong cast of characters and actors, a decent handling of a heard-before story, and a balanced tone to provide for an engaging sit, but as an adaptation that faithfully captures the essence of the original series, it’s a pretty huge failure.

Despite how much this movie seems to be very against type for Power Rangers, the franchise creator, Haim Saban, helped produce the movie, so his blessings are attached. From the initial trailers, the film presented something very unlike the original series; it was gritty, dark, had teens with actual real-life issues, and cemented itself heavily in reality against the more fantastical realms that original Power Rangers thrived in. While this seems to be a strange decision, a risk could pay off if its handled correctly as shows like Gosei Sentai Dairanger and Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (the Japanese series which were dubbed over and reworked for Western audiences to become Power Rangers) could get pretty dark, and in many ways, it does feel like the film for the most part succeeds in this regard. Even though the wildly different tone is bizarre, the set-up for the story is still relatively kept the same and the way it maps out this very by-the-numbers ‘’coming of age superhero’’ story is handled as strongly as it could, and it’s matched with some decent writing and heart. The director for this film, Dean Israelite, had only directed one film prior to this with Project Almanac in 2015, a found-footage sci-fi story that also dealt with teenagers dealing with fantastical experiences through a coming-of-age lens. To his credit, his style is very much one that seems to effectively capture teen complications and how they work together to overcome them, as some of the strongest moments in this film are just the kids interacting off one another and slowly growing closer together. The screenplay by John Gatins, along with help from Matt Sazama, Michele Mulroney, Burk Sharpless and Kieran Mulroney feels completely genuine and raw without going too heavy, and in a genre that can very easily be too irritating or feel artificial when it comes to showcasing teenage problems, these kids go through some true issues that people could relate with, and it’s presented in an honest manner that is still fun and crazy in parts while still feeling truthful. Now with that said, while this stuff is fine, its not really what people care about when it comes to Power Rangers, and while the framework is kept the same, any trace of that original tone is quite absent from this film, to the point that they don’t even feel like the same property. Its very akin to other examples of classic pop culture characters who are reworked to feature a ”moody angsty attitude” in order to appeal to current audiences, and while this isn’t as painful as some of those examples, the comparisons are very noticeable. Whether it was due to money restraints (even though the film has a pretty decent budget of $100 -105 million) or a conflict of interest, anything that feels remotely like the original franchise is either poorly used, misrepresented, or just flat out ignored. When the movie tries to be a proper Power Rangers property in the climax, it fails quite badly through its effects, action and tone, and it involves a product placement so blatant, so forceful and so obviously not trying to hide itself that its honestly baffling how much they insert it in (this movie doesn’t want you forgetting what Krispy Kream is).

Power Rangers was always run by its cheesy atmosphere, fake-looking but charmingly authentic practical effects, over-the-top action, and its overall harmless likeable vibe, but its strengths have never come from its cast of characters. While people have no doubt grown up with various faces from the show and are attached to them because of that, they never exhibited any personalities, individual characteristics, or anything that made them any less lifeless than the toys they were selling. They were meant to act as shells for other kids to pretend to be, not actual people with actual identities. In opposition to that, this film actually has a good line up of leads, with actual fleshed out roles and personalities. Its actually nice to see a Power Rangers property where these kids are more than just colors in costumes and one-blank archetype, they are given dilemmas that still match their chosen archetype, yet don’t feel so one note and cartoonish in their delivery. This also comes from some really great actors, as even when these five have to say an occasional silly line or something that feels a little forced, all of them give it their all and they really do an impressive job. Sadly, most of the other cast members don’t get to bring too much to their roles even though they also play big characters from the franchise. While they aren’t huge stars, they are well known enough to feel bigger than the rest of the cast, and yet it doesn’t feel like they were used that well. Bryan Cranston does a decent job as their mentor and has a little twist near the latter half that feels like an interesting idea, but it goes nowhere and they never really form a connection with him, Bill Hader as a robotic assistant to Zordon called Alpha doesn’t reach the same levels of annoyance that the original did, but he also feels like a relatively useless role outside of a few okay lines (it is Bill Hader so he can make something funny even if its not written that way), and Elizabeth Banks as the villain is okay, but the character doesn’t have much meat to her and her goofier demeanor which is more akin to the original series, doesn’t match with this film’s tone and presentation.

For something that is supposed to be a superhero-like property, the lack of any strong super heroics is an odd feature in this film. Even ignoring that they don’t get into their costume until the last thirty minutes, the fact that the film has almost no action except for a training montage in the middle is weird for a film about the Power Rangers, and further feeds into the fact that this feels like it’s not going to appeal to its fan base who grew up with the franchise. You can feel with how awkward and clunky the action is in the climax mixed with the poor special effects and unimpressive scale and wow factor that these aspects are clearly not the strong suit of the director, who appears to excel at the more down-to-earth personal components. The movie had a budget of at least $100 million, so it isn’t an issue with amount, but considering the director’s last film was only $12 million, maybe that jump was a little too quick to be able to control right away and it resulted in him not being fully able to handle these moments consistently yet. Even in regards to how they want to present the movie, it features some odd camera tricks from cinematographer Matthew J. Llyod, a few scenes that overuse the slow-motion a little too much (made even worse during the action sequences), and while usually the tone feels pretty decently handled, there are random moments where it gets very spacey, and almost dream-like and it feels very out-of-place. Even when it tries to feature a fan-servicey moment, it doesn’t really work because it feels so detached from its original source and gone so far down a new road that it just doesn’t mesh (even when they play that great opening theme song, it just feels hollow and unearned).

Power Rangers makes for a bizarre film, in that for those who aren’t fans of the show, its surprisingly quite strong and will make for a good time. The acting is great, the characters are memorable, the tone is well handled and for its own thing as just a basic superhero coming-of-age story, its told reasonably well and makes for an entertaining viewing experience. However, this isn’t a new brand, it’s a very iconic brand, and as a film of said brand and for fans of the original series, this isn’t going to work at all. It feels incredibly detached from the source its based on, the campy vibe is non-existent, the visual effects and action don’t work, and the entire movie just feels like the exact opposite of what a fan should want from a Power Rangers property. This results in an interesting back and forth where the film is pretty good from a non-fan perspective, but not very good from a fan perspective, and it will be entirely up to you whether you lean towards one or the other, but either way, it’s safe to say that this didn’t reach the same level of all-consuming adoration that the series had.