Power Rangers | Film Review

I’ll never forget the summer of 1993 that brought us to pilot for “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”. I was thirteen years old, and the commercials advertising the show struck such a chord with me. I literally counted down the days, excited for what was sure to be the greatest experience of my young life. Sadly, I just missed the target age for this show, and I didn’t even make it through a single episode before giving up forever. It was cheesy, silly, and over-the-top in a way that simply didn’t work for me.

When I saw the trailer for Dean Israelite’s latest film adaptation, simply titled “Power Rangers”, I was once again hopeful that I would finally get the experience I craved over twenty years ago. While it still strays into insanity in the final act, I was impressed with its ability to draw me into a world that I’ve ignored for multiple decades. Don’t get me wrong; even the concept of the “Power Rangers” is completely absurd. But at least this time around I had a smile on my face for the majority of my time in the theater.

For those who avoided the television show even more than I did, here’s the basic rundown. Five teenagers are given superhero-like abilities from an ancient civilization so that they can work together to rid the world of evil. The evil in this case brings back Rita Repulsa from the television show, this time played by a severely overacting Elizabeth Banks. The Rangers don their respectively colored suits of armor, man their Volton-like vehicles, and fight Rita and her henchmen in bombastic, silly fashion.

What’s most interesting about the plot of “Power Rangers” is that you spend well over an hour before you even see the infamous armor that make our heroes. While that may seem backwards, I appreciated the setup with our main characters. Their collaboration really felt like something out of a John Hughes film, complete with a jock, the popular/pretty girl, and an outcast. This unexpected direction for, what amounts to a cheesy comic book movie, was very welcome. I actually cared about these characters and wanted to learn more about their backstory as the film progressed. When the Rangers finally “suit up”, the movie goes off-the-rails bonkers to the point of feeling like a completely separate movie. It makes no sense and is utterly ridiculous. Yet it had me grinning like I had wanted to back in ’93.

It’s really a shame that so many will overlook this film because of it’s silly premise, because there’s seriously some great production here. Some of the camera work, especially stood out as very well-thought out and executed in memorable ways. The Power Rangers have come a long time since their cheap sets and horrible sound effects. It’s not trying to be anything more than exactly what it is, yet manages to straddle that line between a children’s movie and one for young adults. Is “Power Rangers” dumb? Absolutely. But I still had a good time with it, and I’m certain that fans of the show will love the nostalgia trip this film provides.