SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW
Just a little disclaimer before I go in-depth with this movie: I had absolutely no knowledge of the Power Rangers prior to this having not seen the TV show or any of the movies.
As such, do forgive me Power Rangers fans for saying that I had little to no interest in watching the new movie initially, and in total honesty, I still can't believe I actually did.
I also can't believe that I actually quite liked it.
I'd even go so far as to say that this film was the biggest surprise I've ever had at the cinema.
Power Rangers stars an ensemble cast of actors I've never heard of, with the only recognisable name (to me) being singer Becky G who plays Yellow Ranger.
As far as the casting was concerned, they were all spot-on. What I loved most about it was how they deliberately cast actors of different ethnicities, making for the most diverse cast I've seen in ages. Seriously, there's not a single white actor among the main five.
So refreshing, and it's a giant step in the right direction for these big budget blockbusters coming out of Hollywood (despite this film probably having a very large percentage of its budget coming from Chinese funding).
I thought the five Rangers worked really well off each other, displaying some terrific chemistry and camaraderie especially in scenes involving Red Ranger (Dacre Montgomery), Pink Ranger (played by the very beautiful Naomi Scott) and by far my favourite character of the bunch in Blue Ranger (RJ Cyler).
I liked the fact that Blue Ranger was portrayed as being autistic - something that made the character more endearing and likeable. He was always so full of energy and positivity despite less than satisfactory circumstances, and it made for perhaps the most interesting and most well-rounded character I've seen in a Young Adult (YA) movie.
Speaking of the YA genre, I thought that it was really smart of the writers to make this movie with more of a Hunger Games-style team-building dynamic rather than making a typical superhero movie.
In recent years, it's been so obvious as to how the YA book-to-movie adaptations were really struggling to come up with something new. Every new movie just felt like rehashes of stuff that had been done a million times before, and I completely gave up on the genre long ago.
In the case of Power Rangers, however, by placing these heroes within the format of a YA adventure, it made for a very fresh take on the superhero formula and I really thought that the whole YA thing really worked wonders in making these heroes so much more interesting.
Instead of training montages, we get plenty of character development and a focus on building relationships and having more character interactions instead of big CGI-infested action sequences (of which this movie does have but in moderation). It's so rare that films like these have more character-driven stories and yet we've already gotten two this year with the bloody brilliant Logan and now an honourable mention being this.
I also liked the way they explained how the five got to know each other over the first half of the movie. Often times, hero team-up movies have their heroes get together in such forced and abrupt ways like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) or X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). They took time and effort to flesh out these characters and to show how their paths managed to realistically cross each other's.
On to the story, and I really appreciated how they kept the confusing jargon only fans will understand to a minimum, and when new terms are introduced, at least they are explained clearly to ensure the non-fanatic movie goer like myself would understand what's going on.
There's none of that Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) or Assassin's Creed (2016) gibberish nonsense where fans went wild in excitement after hearing certain terms while I'm just there like, "the bloody hell is a Gul'dan?"
The story itself was easy to follow and not overly-convoluted, although the final third of the film does fall back into genre cliché territory quite a bit, making for a rather predictable conclusion.
I also didn't like the way the movie was shot, especially in the first two-thirds before the big destructive shit kicks in. These smaller-scale action sequences/simple scenes had such poor framing and they were so awfully shaky and unsteady. It's a pity because the camera work does improve later on, almost as if they sacked the ape of a cinematographer who did the first bit of the movie and replaced him/her with someone competent.
Lastly, Power Rangers features something that's truly astonishing - something that deserves an award, an award for the most blatant and ridiculous bit of product placement I have ever seen in a movie.
I kid you not, people. When you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Yes, it was funny to a degree but when the joke keeps being told again and again, it goes from being only remotely funny to being just stupid.
On a more positive note, I have to commend the performance of Elizabeth Banks as the movie's main antagonist Rita Repulsa.
I've always thought of Elizabeth Banks as one of the most underwhelming and average actresses out there, but she did really well with this role that she played with suitable over-the-top campiness which was really fun to watch. Could also tell she was having fun with the role, and that almost always makes for a good performance from any actor.
All in all, Power Rangers truly gave me the most pleasant surprise of the year thus far.
It was a fun, thoroughly entertaining movie filled with great energy, a very interesting set of characters and I feel that it was perhaps the most respectable attempt at kick-starting a new franchise, simply for the fact that it didn't feel forced at all.
Although I did have some major issues with how the film was shot and how some product placement was so bad, I still had a good time.
6.5/10.
As such, do forgive me Power Rangers fans for saying that I had little to no interest in watching the new movie initially, and in total honesty, I still can't believe I actually did.
I also can't believe that I actually quite liked it.
I'd even go so far as to say that this film was the biggest surprise I've ever had at the cinema.
Power Rangers stars an ensemble cast of actors I've never heard of, with the only recognisable name (to me) being singer Becky G who plays Yellow Ranger.
As far as the casting was concerned, they were all spot-on. What I loved most about it was how they deliberately cast actors of different ethnicities, making for the most diverse cast I've seen in ages. Seriously, there's not a single white actor among the main five.
So refreshing, and it's a giant step in the right direction for these big budget blockbusters coming out of Hollywood (despite this film probably having a very large percentage of its budget coming from Chinese funding).
I thought the five Rangers worked really well off each other, displaying some terrific chemistry and camaraderie especially in scenes involving Red Ranger (Dacre Montgomery), Pink Ranger (played by the very beautiful Naomi Scott) and by far my favourite character of the bunch in Blue Ranger (RJ Cyler).
I liked the fact that Blue Ranger was portrayed as being autistic - something that made the character more endearing and likeable. He was always so full of energy and positivity despite less than satisfactory circumstances, and it made for perhaps the most interesting and most well-rounded character I've seen in a Young Adult (YA) movie.
Speaking of the YA genre, I thought that it was really smart of the writers to make this movie with more of a Hunger Games-style team-building dynamic rather than making a typical superhero movie.
In recent years, it's been so obvious as to how the YA book-to-movie adaptations were really struggling to come up with something new. Every new movie just felt like rehashes of stuff that had been done a million times before, and I completely gave up on the genre long ago.
In the case of Power Rangers, however, by placing these heroes within the format of a YA adventure, it made for a very fresh take on the superhero formula and I really thought that the whole YA thing really worked wonders in making these heroes so much more interesting.
Instead of training montages, we get plenty of character development and a focus on building relationships and having more character interactions instead of big CGI-infested action sequences (of which this movie does have but in moderation). It's so rare that films like these have more character-driven stories and yet we've already gotten two this year with the bloody brilliant Logan and now an honourable mention being this.
I also liked the way they explained how the five got to know each other over the first half of the movie. Often times, hero team-up movies have their heroes get together in such forced and abrupt ways like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) or X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). They took time and effort to flesh out these characters and to show how their paths managed to realistically cross each other's.
On to the story, and I really appreciated how they kept the confusing jargon only fans will understand to a minimum, and when new terms are introduced, at least they are explained clearly to ensure the non-fanatic movie goer like myself would understand what's going on.
There's none of that Warcraft: The Beginning (2016) or Assassin's Creed (2016) gibberish nonsense where fans went wild in excitement after hearing certain terms while I'm just there like, "the bloody hell is a Gul'dan?"
The story itself was easy to follow and not overly-convoluted, although the final third of the film does fall back into genre cliché territory quite a bit, making for a rather predictable conclusion.
I also didn't like the way the movie was shot, especially in the first two-thirds before the big destructive shit kicks in. These smaller-scale action sequences/simple scenes had such poor framing and they were so awfully shaky and unsteady. It's a pity because the camera work does improve later on, almost as if they sacked the ape of a cinematographer who did the first bit of the movie and replaced him/her with someone competent.
Lastly, Power Rangers features something that's truly astonishing - something that deserves an award, an award for the most blatant and ridiculous bit of product placement I have ever seen in a movie.
I kid you not, people. When you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Yes, it was funny to a degree but when the joke keeps being told again and again, it goes from being only remotely funny to being just stupid.
On a more positive note, I have to commend the performance of Elizabeth Banks as the movie's main antagonist Rita Repulsa.
I've always thought of Elizabeth Banks as one of the most underwhelming and average actresses out there, but she did really well with this role that she played with suitable over-the-top campiness which was really fun to watch. Could also tell she was having fun with the role, and that almost always makes for a good performance from any actor.
All in all, Power Rangers truly gave me the most pleasant surprise of the year thus far.
It was a fun, thoroughly entertaining movie filled with great energy, a very interesting set of characters and I feel that it was perhaps the most respectable attempt at kick-starting a new franchise, simply for the fact that it didn't feel forced at all.
Although I did have some major issues with how the film was shot and how some product placement was so bad, I still had a good time.
6.5/10.
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