Directed by Dean Israelite

Screenplay by John Gatins

Starring Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks

Over the last decade plus I’ve posted hundreds of reviews and strong opinions on a varying spectrum of films, and whether or not you’ve agreed with me I’ve more or less been consistent with what I’ve had to say. Now finally comes my undoing: I liked the Power Rangers movie.

I realize this throws all my credibility (whatever I had left of it) out the window, so you can stop taking me seriously from now on. Just look elsewhere for recommendations or rants or summaries, I can no longer be trusted. But it seems to me when you see a Power Rangers movie in 2017 you have to ask three questions

1. Does it suck
2. Will a younger audience enjoy it
3. Will it appeal to my generation’s nostalgia for it

The answer to these is no, yes, and yes (maybe). I don’t think anyone’s walking into this expecting their minds to be blown. It’s not surprisingly good or anything like that, but it’s not surprisingly bad either. It just kinda is. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a live action Power Rangers movie. When the trailer for this thing hit I seemed to be one of the only people who thought it didn’t look like it was going to be shit. It just….sorta looked…okay? Wasn’t entirely sure why people were so mad about it, but if I had to guess it would be because another franchise is getting the superhero treatment. And yes, in this movie they even reference Iron Man, Spiderman, and Transformers just to name a few.

I’ve become so disillusioned with the superhero genre lately that sometimes it’s refreshing to see a movie that knows what it is from the get go and doesn’t lie to you about its intentions or what you’re getting. I’ve grown tired of recent big blockbusters promising greatness and then delivering none of it. There’s nothing I hate more than when potential is squandered. Conversely, I greatly love when a movie with almost no potential ends up being amazing. I also enjoy a movie that never pretends to be something it’s not, and just embraces what it’s all about. And that last category is where the new Power Rangers falls.

Is this movie great? No, oh god no. It’s littered with flaws but you already knew it would be. So let’s talk about the good things. The guy who plays the Blue Ranger, RJ Cyler, is amazing. He is funny and believable and all his scenes really do work. It’s all the more incredible when I now tell you in this movie he has autism. Really, they gave the Blue Ranger autism, and it just works, miraculously. (this is the second movie I’ve liked in the last 6 months where one of the main characters has autism. First was The Accountant. Strange that I thought to point that out) He’s his own character and had me dying laughing in several scenes. Just a wonderful performance, easily the best part of the movie.

The other 4 rangers….well, when judging performances in a movie like this it becomes: are they bad actors or realistic teenagers? Dacre Montgomery, who plays the Red Ranger, looks like the baby of Zac Efron and Chris Pine. Initially I wasn’t sure about him, it was pretty obvious his pretty boy look was what they were going for. By the end I accepted him though, so I think he did his job just fine. The Black Ranger (Ludi Lin) is made to be a rebellious outcast and I thought he was alright, until a key reveal later and his scene with it that made me enjoy him much more. The Yellow Ranger (Becky G.) is made to be a silent outcast, but she might have been a bit too awkward and quiet and I’m not sure if that’s how they were directing her or her own personal choices. And then the Pink Ranger (Naomi Scott) I liked her and I didn’t. She’s good in some scenes, but off in others. Maybe her and the Yellow Ranger were just channeling their inner younger angst to play realistic teenagers. Maybe that’s just the vibe I got. The cast really does have charm. I hadn’t seen any of them in anything before, and I liked them all by the end of this. So I guess they did something right.

Bryan Cranston as Zordon was alright, you just kinda get what you expect from his voice acting work. Except for one brief moment in the beginning where they have him in makeup which was fucking awesome. Bill Hader is good as Alpha, also provided some good laughs in the movie. Elizabeth Banks as Rita, well she went way over the top. She’s enjoyable at times for sure, and surely strange in others. Definitely channeled some of the Wicked Witch for this, you can tell she was having a blast. Among the film’s more questionable decisions is a scene where she robs a jewelry store for its gold (which she eats, don’t ask) and climaxes in an abrupt edit that was not intended for laughs, so you better believe when it cut away I was roaring laughing in a packed silent theater.

And to go along with that, things happen fast in this movie. I mean, real fast. I’m not fucking around, this movie goes and it does not stop. Much of it is cut super fast music video style, which wasn’t always fun but it ends up working in the end. It’s just so weird since the film has a couple of long take sequences earlier on and then never really returns to them. It ALSO has habit of slanting the camera at an angle for a lot of the shots (think Battlefield Earth but not terrible). It’s also so strange that in the Power Rangers movie, you don’t see much of the power rangers. Most of the movie is with them as teenagers, and their problems and interactions with one another. This leads to a campfire scene where the rangers open up to one another, that culminates with the Yellow Ranger saying, “After all this, are we Power Rangers…or friends?”. Ah yes, asking the big questions.

For whatever reason, this all worked for me. And yeah, I did cringe at certain parts, but I was smiling for others. And things do “just happen” in this movie with no real explanation. But, really, it’s the Power Rangers, is anyone going to complain how the five of them all end up running into each other at the same mining site in the beginning so quickly? I’m still not sure why the Blue Ranger was blowing up that rock, because his dad was a coal miner I think? Someone’s gonna have to explain that to me cause I’m not sure the movie did.

This seems like the kind of movie I would have loved when I was 10. Remember The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie from 1995? Yeah, I saw that in theaters as a kid and loved it. Just like most people I had obsessively watched the Power Rangers show when it first came out and seeing it on the big screen was magic. As you grow up you recognize it as the trash it really is, possibly one of the worst movies ever made, but as a kid it’s the greatest thing ever. This new Power Rangers film reminded me of some of those feelings, and I think the younger generation of kids will really enjoy this. The kids in my theater tonight were jamming out with the movie by the end (one of them even cried out Billy! at a pivotal scene).

Currently the movie sits at a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. I can understand it. You know when they tell you if you took the same script and gave it to 5 different directors you would have 5 very different films? I think you can apply that to actors too. I think Elizabeth Banks, Bill Hader, and the Blue Ranger were all reading different scripts from the rest of the cast. People may hate the movie for having trouble balancing its humor, camp, and serious moments. They may also hate that despite having 5 leads, they all are endowed with the same set of superpowers (can jump high, super strength, etc.) with no concerned difference in their fighting styles. But that’s OKAY because the majority of it is spent with them as teens. Whether or not you buy or like them all as teenagers with attitude and real dilemmas is up to you. I did, and I think maybe I’m not alone in that. I think this is a good new look for a new audience to be introduced to the Power Rangers. I hope the film does well so these actors can return and get a chance to find their niche and really shine. I think for sure the movie doesn’t suck, and I think a younger audience will gravitate towards it. For my generation it may be split down the middle. Who knew a movie with Zords battling an army made of asphalt set to Kanye’s Power around a Krispy Kreme would be so polarizing.