WARNING SOME MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY PIECES OF THE FILM SPOILED FEEL FREE TO READ THE SUMMARY AT THE BOTTOM.
They are finally back! Jason and the team from the original Power Rangers TV series are back to take on Rita Repulsa, this time on the big screen. As a lifelong Power Ranger fan I must say I could not wait to get a chance to watch this movie. Here are my thoughts without spoiling major plot points of the story.
The first portion of the film is very awkwardly paced. The first couple of scenes are done pretty well in all honesty, but after that it almost feels like the movie gets sped up to the point where they find the ship and become Power Rangers. What did not help this is that they did all of this without building their main characters. We learn bits and pieces about Jason early on because it is seen through mostly his perspective but not enough to really make audiences connect with him. Although he and Kimberly get the most screen time, or at least it feels like they do, they actually do a better job of building the other three characters and making them feel relatable.
There is a moment in the film that you actually get to see the Rangers all together and talking about their problems in life and when it came to Jason and Kimberly they both avoided talking all together. At least with Kimberly they do eventually have her talk about her past with Jason but Jason never has his moment of releasing all his demons which made him feel a little empty as a character. For much of the film it almost seems like it was leading to some sort of romantic moment between Jason and Kimberly but we never get to see that happen despite the first trailer of the film showing them kissing. This almost makes it feel pointless having so many moments just with Jason and Kimberly together and basically keeping their secrets between the two of them.
The best performances that came out of this movie were from R.J. Cyler who plays Billy/Blue Ranger, and Becky G who plays Trini/Yellow Ranger. They do a great job of making their characters who have real life issues feel genuine and relatable. The performances by these two however get drowned out by Ludi Lin’s Zack who just feels like too much of a wild card character and was not very believable, and the lackluster Jason and Kimberly. That may be my biggest quarrel with the movie is that Dacre Montgomery does not command the screen and feel like much of a leader even though he is the Red Ranger.
The last thing I will bring up is that the film was having trouble distinguishing itself. For parts of the movie it was very serious and had mature, realistic problems and I really enjoyed the fact that they were making the Power Rangers into more than just a kid’s action movie; however, the movie gets dragged down by some juvenile, cliche writing during action sequences.
SUMMARY
It may have not sounded like it with some of the negatives I have throughout this review, but I thoroughly enjoyed Power Rangers. It is a fun movie and has flashes of being a more young adult version of the famed franchise, but it occasionally gets brought back to its cheesy roots. All in all this is a movie that struggles from having an identity crisis. As a fan of the franchise I am hoping an extended version of the film comes out when it gets released for home formats because I would like to see if the film had a stronger identity before the editing process. With that said though, this is a review of the theatrical cut. I give the film a 6.5/10 because it is an fun movie that suffers from a lackluster lead character and struggles between young adult adventure movie and the kids show of it’s origin.
The Nerd Chambers 