Movie Review: Power Rangers (2017)

I about flipped when heard about Saban's Power Rangers, the 2017 action movie reboot of the Power Rangers franchise.

The IMDB synopsis reads: “High school outcasts stumble upon an old alien ship, where they acquire superpowers and are dubbed the Power Rangers. Learning that an old enemy of the previous generation has returned to exact vengeance, the group must harness their powers and use them to work together and save the world.” This movie is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some vulgar language, and a bit of crude humor.

I wasn't real sure what to expect going into this one. I know what I was hoping for. I was hoping for a serious treatment of the sentai concept; while the word itself is actually a generic designation for a Japanese naval division, otakus have largely co-opted it to refer to an anime or manga that focuses on a small team of superpowered heroes or robot pilots that literally join together to make a more powerful entity. I hoped for something similar to Pacific Rim, but with teenagers instead of military units. The writing team increased my optimism, as their credits included the 2014 Godzilla, Gods of Egypt, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, all movies I enjoyed immensely.

I got something a bit less than I hoped for but more than I expected, and most importantly, very true to the franchise. The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers took the Japanese show Super Sentai and dubbed the action sequences, stitching them together with some original footage to make a kid's show. It premiered on Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup while I was in college; there were a good half-dozen of us who met in the dorm lounge every Saturday morning to watch it. It was cheesy and fun, but it had that unmistakably Japanese action style and most importantly – giant robots. The kids show has remained in production for 24 years, a testament to its enduring ability to span generations. The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie remains one of my favorite films ever. For the 2017 version, I really wanted a different experience from the same essential premise.

I think I got it.

Unlike the TV show, these aren't the good kids. These kids are outcasts and screwups, in search of their own identities and absolutely convinced their experience in this life is utterly unique. They're just like every teenager ever, either acting out, internalizing their emotions, or some combination thereof. I was a little bit of each main character growing up and I could relate to them instantly. The tone of the film is deadpan serious, starting with the leader of the previous Rangers calling in what amounts to a nuclear strike on his own location in a last ditch effort to kill the villainous Rita.

The film morphs as slowly as the characters, starting off as a quiet little high school drama that stumbles into a mystery and subsequently struggles to understand what's happening to it. By the time the film has evolved into a full-blown action piece, it's hard to imagine things progressing any other way. Intensely dramatic moments with the main characters build to measured explosions of violence or humor to release the tension. When the morphin armor and the zords finally appear in their full power at the climax, everything starts to pay off like clockwork, releasing the viewer from the tension of wondering what else the characters need to suffer and letting them enjoy the final shape of the endgame.

There's quite a lot of fan service in this film, especially towards the end when the zords appear, but it's not necessary to know anything about the Power Rangers as a franchise. When the final action pieces hit the screen, the sequences pay heavy homage to the tv show, which relies heavily on banter during the fights and a slightly cartoony look to the enemies. While it was a nice break from the tension, it was also a bit disruptive to the flow of the movie. The CG work on the zords and the monster is up to industry standard but not really groundbreaking. All of the morhpin armors are practical costumes and if the sets are green-screen, I couldn't tell.

All of the Ranger actors are unknowns, kids with two or three other works to their name. I recognized only Elizabeth Banks as Rita and Bryan Cranston as Zordon, but they brought the goods. Rita is visually disturbing and extremely dangerous, savaging her victims and leaving corpses in her wake. Cranston has little enough to work with as Zordon, but effectively communicates his sense of frustration and determination. I predict we'll be seeing much more of Red Ranger Dacre Montgomery as he matures.

The imagery and camerawork on this film really draws attention to the themes of transformation and rebirth. The camera literally revolves around the characters at times, especially those times when they are all wrapped up in themselves. The characters literally dive into water towards the light in an effort to understand what's happening to them, struggling to emerge from their old life into their new. They've been chosen to be Power Rangers by forces outside of themselves, without regard to their wishes in the matter. Once chosen, they begin to change physically and emotionally long before the morphin armor makes the internal changes outwardly apparent. It's superb storytelling.

But what are we going to be talking about afterward? I took my whole family to see the show, and they had quite a lot to say. We talked about the idea of coming together as a team, of overcoming our differences. We talked about the desire of the characters to become better people individually. We talked about the morphin matrix, and why it was used the way it was in the film. More than anything else we talked about what we would do if it happened to us, and why some of the choices the characters ended up making were absolutely necessary.

There is some small amount of Christian imagery, with an all-powerful father figure giving responsibility for the new world to the son. There is a death and rebirth theme. It's not particularly explicit unless you are already inclined that way. The film doesn't champion self-sacrifice as a special virtue, but it does make the firm point that growing as a person means learning to put others before yourself, not unilaterally, but for the ultimate benefit of all. As with many films that focus on superheroes, the dominant theme is that of responsibility, in this case not because of their power but because they are growing up.

Saban's Power Rangers is an interesting beast. It works well as a superhero movie, a coming-of-age teen drama, and an action piece. If any one of those things interest you, mark this one down for a rental or purchase. If any two of them appeal to you, it could be worth a trip to the movies. If all three of them hit your sweet spot, prepare for repeat viewing. Personally, I'm glad I crawled out of my cave to go see this open (something I've not done since Godzilla in 2014), and I'll without a doubt be purchasing the blu-ray disc.

I give Power Rangers a Quality score of “Excellent” and a Relevance score of “High”.

***

Winston Crutchfield reads far more than is healthy, but is attempting to compensate by foisting his favorite books onto his rebellious teenagers. He's always open to discussion about books and looking for reading suggestions. He can be found on the Christian Geek Central forums as "MindSpike" or on Goodreads under his own name.