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Power Rangers or… Go! Go! Power Rangerrrrrrs!
Yes, that’s the original theme and it pops up very briefly around 3/4 of the way through this overlong trawl into Rebootsville.
In fact, there is something good about this – the first 20-30 minutes aren’t too bad, as it gets a bit ‘Breakfast Club‘ when Jason (Dacre Montgomery) ends up in Saturday detention after a bovine-relate incident went wrong. The cow survived, but his car was totalled…
Of course, that’s not quite the start, as that comes a little earlier… 65 million years earlier, in fact, in the well-known period – the Cenozoic Era, where Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) had a scrap, and the Zeo Crystal went for a burton, and is now in present day USA. Quite how, I’ve no idea.
Back in the now, and the kids all come together, either through said detention or various goings-on outside while they’re out and about, and comprise of token sports-type, token dowdy-girl-turns-into-cheerleader-type, token asian character, token black character and token surly female. Then have a bit of impromptu archeology down a mine results in them finding crystals of various colours which leads them to an annoying robot called Alpha (Bill Hader) and Zordon, himself, who for some reason I’ve forgotten and cannot care to look up, is now a face in a wall.
Perhaps, Zordon is a moron?
Power Rangers is a 12-certificate and movie critic Mark Kermode said he definitely wouldn’t recommend it for any children under 8. Okay, so it’s quite violent and a bit scary in a lot of places, but given how it’s all a load of fantasy nonsense, I think they’ll all understand how it’s not possible in real life.
The BBFC states “There are a number of spectacular and noisy battle sequences in which the Power Rangers fight against the villain and her cohorts. Some heavy punches are thrown between two men when they fight each other”, but again, to me, none of it is real.
They add, “Terrified people are seen fleeing through the streets as the villain’s army rampages through a town, destroying buildings and vehicles.” Again, it’s a fantasy film. I’m quite sure in the ’80s that this would’ve passed as a simple PG.
Meanwhile, there’s also “Other issues include a use of moderate bad language (‘bitch’) and a few crude comments.” – Okay, drop these as they’re pointless, and I’m sure we’d have a PG.
However, PG certificates for non-CGI movies are generally considered box-office death in the US, so they have to be pepped up to tip it into a PG-13.
The $110m budget has certainly been dished out on special effects and surround sound, but certainly not scripting. The film is overlong and ponderous and takes forever to get through the plot for scenes that shouldn’t last as long as they do, including the training sequences. At 124 minutes in length, around 90 plus credits could’ve done. In fact, the end credits (including a tiny mid-credits scene) last for TEN MINUTES!! That is ridiculous.
Some more things that annoyed me about Power Rangers:
- As is typical for most superhero films of late, it has some splashes of humour early on, but then just ditches all that once it’s time to cobble together some form of plot.
- The cast are pretty much phoning it in, particularly the more established ones: Elizabeth Banks, for example – as baddie Rita Repulsa, is about as effective as Grotbags!
- At one point, Billy is so excited he starts to shout, “Yippee-Kay-Ay Mother…” from Die Hard, and then pauses, because it’s a kids film, but he over-eggs the pudding by correcting himself, “No, mother’s good, mother’s good”. It’s stupid that they even get him to ATTEMPT that line!
- Oh, and the Power Rangers can just fire their weapons in the middle of the street, with other humans running about??!
- Plus, why didn’t Jason’s Dad at least show some good sense by using a hands-free phone while he drives, instead of putting it to his ear while he looks anywhere BUT in the direction of travel AND while he careers about all over the place?!
- Like Man of Steel, it just never knows when to end, and keeps banging on in the same direction, over and over.
I don’t know the folklore of Power Rangers, so only really have this film to base it on, but it’s not very good, is it? We certainly won’t be seeing a sequel based on its performance.
And that mid-credits scene…
Power Rangers is available now on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, Amazon Prime and DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size version.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 124 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate
Year: 2017
Format: 2.35:1 (Dolby Vision, Redcode RAW (6K) (5K) (4K))
Film Rating: 3/10
Director: Dean Israelite
Producers: Marty Bowen, Brian Casentini, Wyck Godfrey and Haim Saban
Screenplay: John Gatins (based on a story by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney; created by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy)
Music: Brian Tyler
Cast:
Jason (Red Ranger): Dacre Montgomery
Kimberly (Pink Ranger): Naomi Scott
Billy (Blue Ranger): RJ Cyler
Zack (Black Ranger): Ludi Lin
Trini (Yellow Ranger): Becky G
Rita Repulsa: Elizabeth Banks
Zordon: Bryan Cranston
Alpha 5: Bill Hader (voice)
Damo: Matt Shively
Hawkeye: Cody Kearsley
Sam Scott: David Denman
Ted Hart: Robert Moloney
Maddy Hart: Anjali Jay
Amanda: Sarah Grey
Harper: Morgan Taylor Campbell
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.