IT’S A GO FOR ‘POWER RANGERS’
POWER RANGERS
Running time: 2hrs 4min Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G, Bryan Cranston, Bill Hader, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman Director: Dean Israelite
TWENTY years after the last
Power Rangers theatrical release, the sci-fi series returns with an updated visual style and reconfigured storyline.
The 2017 version creatively re-imagines the Power Rangers’ origins by establishing them as a team of intergalactic protectors, which provides a high degree of flexibility for potential future iterations.
However, a proliferation of memorable teen action-adventure movies have solidified their own loyal followings over the past two decades, leaving the impression that a revived Power Rangers franchise may lack the distinction necessary to sustain a full-fledged relaunch, although its worldwide appeal should assure satisfactory initial results.
An opening flashback reveals that the original Power Rangers were actually humanoid-like extraterrestrials, arriving on earth millions of years ago as Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and his team of Rangers tried to defend the planet from power-hungry alien invader Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). When an errant meteor strikes, Zordon’s Rangers are all killed and he almost perishes before his loyal robot assistant Alpha 5 (Bill Hader) saves him by uploading his consciousness into their spacecraft’s computer system, while Rita’s body is consigned to the depths of the ocean.
Digitally imprisoned within the ship indefinitely, Zordon will have to wait until the power coins that enable the development of Ranger superpowers are discovered before he can be freed.
More than 60 million years later, a decrepit gold mine outside the California town of Angel Grove attracts the attention of teen tech-whiz Billy (RJ Cyler), who’s focused on a project started by his late father to unearth a mysterious energy source within the mountainside. Billy gets some unexpected assistance from disgraced football star Jason (Dacre Montgomery). It turns out that some other marginalised teens are also drawn to the mountain, including bad-boy Zack (Ludi Lin), ostracised cheerleader Kimberly (Naomi Scott) and (in one of the first representations of an LGBTQ superhero character) gay-questioning Trini (Becky G).
After Billy’s home-made explosive blows away the wall of the mine, they discover the power coins and quickly begin developing super-abilities, including strength, speed and agility. It’s not until they discover Zordon’s spaceship and encounter Alpha 5, however, that they begin to understand their anointed role as Power Rangers.
As the teens struggle to control their new-found talents, the revival of Rita snaps their situation into sharp focus when she arrives in Angel Grove seeking Zordon and begins destroying the town. If the Rangers can’t find a way to form a cohesive team, they’ll never be able to defeat Rita and save the world.
The newest instalment preserves some of the most beloved characteristics of the original franchise, updated to reflect technological advances. The Rangers’s colour-coded power suits now benefit from nanoparticle properties and the robotic mecha-assault vehicles known as Zords that they pilot take on enhanced battle capabilities, while Rita’s sidekicks the Putties and the gigantic warrior Goldar get more polished CGI representations. (And yes, the Go Go Power Rangers theme song makes a triumphant return.)
Screenwriter John Gatins succeeds in distilling the Power Rangers’s sprawling mythology into a manageable scope and dialling back the campy humour and martial arts fixations that characterised the TV series. The current version instead emphasises realistic dramatic situations by imbuing each Ranger with some type of personal issue.
Whether they’re dealing with bullying, alienation or sexual orientation, these teens are more three-dimensional than their Ranger predecessors, but eventually this repetitive effort to emphasise their relatability becomes so heavy-handed as to appear transparently manipulative. However, some welltimed humour helps curtail the self-consciously jokey tone of the earlier films.
Standing out in a field of largely emerging young talent, Cyler strikes a heart-felt balance between Billy’s obsessive and creative tendencies, playing them against one another for both humour and emotional impact. Cranston as the pompous alien with unrealistic expectations and Hader as the ever-optimistic robot form a resourceful if unexpected comedic team, but can’t quite match Banks for Rita’s sheer campiness (even if she appears practically unrecognisable under layers of make-up and prosthetics).