Review - Power Rangers (2017)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're fast approaching the theatrical release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the sequel to the surprise hit of 2020, Sonic the Hedgehog. However, before we get to Sonic next week, there are a few movies based on pop culture franchises of my childhood that I'd like to get to first, starting with a 2017 movie based on a 1990's television series: Power Rangers. Based on Haim Saban's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the movie Power Rangers was directed by Dean Israelite, and stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, and Ludi Lin, with other cast members including David Denman, Elizabeth Banks, Bill Hader, and Bryan Cranston. 

       The movie opens with a prologue set in the Cenozoic Era, where Red Ranger Zordon is the last survivor of an intergalactic team of heroes called the Power Rangers, who were betrayed and killed by one of their own: Green Ranger Rita Repulsa. Zordon buries five power coins, and has his assistant Alpha 5 launch a meteor strike on Earth, hurtling Rita into the sea and stopping her from destroying the Earth by obtaining the Zeo Crystal. 

       Cut to years later, we meet Jason Scott, the star player of the Angel Grove High School football team, attempting to pull a prank on a rival school. The prank goes wrong, and he is placed on house arrest, kicked off the football team, and forced to attend Saturday morning detention for the remainder of the school year. In detention, Jason meets and befriends two other students: Kimberly Hart, a former cheerleader who was cut after a cyber bullying incident, and Billy Cranston, who is autistic and a frequent target for bullies. 

       After detention, Billy offers to rig Jason's ankle monitor in exchange for Jason driving the two of them to the mine just outside of Angel Grove. Jason agrees, and the two head out, where Billy rigs some explosives into a rock face. Jason, meanwhile, sees Kimberly taking a dive off of a cliff into the water below. Unfortunately, Billy's explosives, which catch the attention of both Jason and Kimberly, also catch the attention of Zack Taylor and Trini Kwan, two other students at Angel Grove High. Trini is new in town, and has had different difficulties in making new friends as well as having questions about her sexual orientation, while Zack lives with his mother, who is very sick and he fears could die. 

      It turns out that the Billy's explosives reveal the power coins encased in glass, and the teens take the coins, and attempt to flee. However, an accident occurs, and the car is hit by a train. Meanwhile, a fishing boat picks up a mummified body in the sea, and it comes to life, sucking the life out of one the fisherman that found it. Rita is back. The next morning, the five teens wake up unharmed, and with unexplainable new powers, which prompts them to head back to the mine and investigate the area. They find a crevasse filled with water, and underneath is an air pocket containing an alien spaceship. Inside the spaceship is a little robot: Alpha 5. Alpha introduces the teens to Zordon, whose consciousness has been uploaded to the ship's mainframe, leaving him as a face on a wall. Zordon informs the teens that the coins chose them, and they are now the Power Rangers. Jason is the Red Ranger, Billy is the Blue Ranger, Kimberly is the Pink Ranger, Trini is the Yellow Ranger, and Zack is the Black Ranger.

        The following day, the Ranger teens return to Zordon's ship and begin training to fight Rita and her army of Putty Patrollers and her giant golden minion Goldar. As the teens train, they also start to bond. Meanwhile, Billy starts to investigate where the Zeo Crystal could possibly be located, and ultimately traces it to an intersection in downtown Angel Grove. Unfortunately, still unable to morph into the Power Rangers, Zordon dismisses the teens, and they leave. Jason, however, hears the real reason for Zordon's desire for the teens to morph: as doing so will open the Morphing Grid and allow Zordon to come back to life. 

      That night, a fully restored Rita goes after the Rangers, and Billy is forced to reveal the location of the Zeo Crystal: an intersection located by the local Krispy Kreme. Rita then drowns Billy to his death, and leaves the other Rangers. The surviving four Rangers return with Billy's body to the ship, but Zordon is unable to help. When the four Rangers all show their signs of selfless bond as a team, the Morphing Grid opens, and Zordon disappears from the wall, only to reappear on the wall moments later, sacrificing his opportunity to come back to bring back Billy instead. Now complete, the five Ranger teens finally morph, and head out to fight Rita's Putties. After defeating the Putties, the Rangers head for their Dino Zords, and head out to stop Rita and Goldar. 

          Despite their best efforts, the Rangers are unable to stop Goldar in the individual Zords. However, their Zords combine to form the more powerful Megazord, who's is more easily able to dispatch Goldar. Rita, unwilling to surrender to Zordon, warns the Rangers that others will come for the Zeo Crystal, and she gets backhanded into space, never to be heard from again. The Rangers are hailed as heroes, and life resumes as normal for them. The movie ends with another Saturday detention, where a mid-credits scene mentions that a new student named Tommy Oliver will be joining them, but all the audience sees is an empty desk and a green jacket with a dragon on it hanging on the back of the chair. 

       Okay, so I saw this movie in theaters, and I absolutely loved it. The five Ranger teens were excellent, Especially Dacre Montgomery as Jason, Naomi Scott as Kimberly, and RJ Cyler as Billy. Heck, if you guys enjoyed Ludi Lin as Liu Kang in the 2021 version of Mortal Kombat, then definitely check him out in this movie as Zack. Becky G is good as Trini, but doesn't stand out nearly as well as Jason, Billy, or Kimberly. I also like that the filmmakers made the Blue Ranger autistic and the Yellow Ranger LGBT. As someone who is autistic myself, I love getting to see that kind of representation in a mainstream movie, especially one based on something from my childhood like the Power Rangers. 

        I also really liked Bill Hader's vocal performance as Alpha, as he definitely has the right voice for the character, but not so much that he becomes annoying. Elizabeth Banks, who I enjoyed as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games series, definitely takes an interesting turn in this movie as the villainous Rita Repulsa. And lastly, I liked Bryan Cranston as Zordon. Also, making Zordon and Rita past versions of the Red and Green Rangers respectively was a stroke of genius, as it really helps explain how Zordon got the power coins to begin with, and how a villainous witch like Rita ever got the Green power coin. 

         The visual designs for the Ranger suits and the Zords are definitely unique, but sometimes feel like both too faithful to the original yet too much of a departure from the original. I honestly enjoyed them in the context of the movie, but as a hardcore fan of the Power Rangers, I do have to note where the designs feel off. Speaking of which, while I like the designs of the Putties, feeling more like genuine monstrosities, I didn't care for the design of Goldar. I dunno it just looked like melted golden sludge walking around, not a monstrous general of Rita's army. 

        I really liked that they changed Angel Grove from a big city to a small town. I think that it gives the movie a more personal feel to the whole thing, and it definitely works for the context of the movie. Lastly, I'd like to talk about the music. Composer Brian Tyler did an excellent job composing the music for the movie, as it felt like the perfect blend of orchestral and technological music, which keeps the sci-fi aspect of the film very strong. But my favorite piece of music in the movie is the song "Go Go Power Rangers" from the 1995 film Mighty Morphin'Power Rangers: The Movie. When that song came on, I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement. I mean, there's a reason that song is still iconic amongst 90's kids. Just saying. 

      Overall, while Power Rangers isn't a perfect film, it's definitely a fun one based on a property that's as near and dear to me today as it was almost thirty years ago. Unfortunately, the film didn't quite succeed at the box office, being sandwiched in between two much bigger releases: Beauty and the Beast (2017) and The Fate of the Furious. However, I do recommend checking this one out if you haven't seen it yet. I'm giving the 2017 movie Power Rangers a rating of 4.95/5. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.