Where to watch Power Rangers
3 Stars
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.
When the original Power Rangers hit its cultural zenith, I had already moved on to cars, girls, etc. I was more of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle era, and I was too cool to get involved with kung fu guys in silly tights battling robots. Ironic at 38, I found myself quite entertained with the same elements I shunned 22 years ago, which is to say, Power Rangers is a surprise. It is a big-budget reboot made by a creative team that has decided to appeal to a new generation of kids. Power Rangers isn’t as successful or jaw-dropping as the recent Ninja Turtle live-action reiterations, but it’s also not a cynical cash grab. The evil villainess isn’t a graphed-on girl boss but rather a character cannon to the mythology of the material.
The first half of Power Rangers harkens back to the John Hughes films of the 1980s, and director Dean Israelite, who stages two car chases captured by a rotating camera gimmick, attempts to photograph his character in a Spielberg-esque manner. Things slow down in a second act that drags with a series of repetitive scenes that don’t do much to deepen the characters or advance the story further. However, the action picks up during the third act, dedicated solely to the battle between the villainess, her monster, and the Power Rangers. The CGI is remarkable during the extended sequence that concludes the picture. If the film had incorporated more scenes featuring the Rangers in uniform and tighter editing in the middle it could have been a genre classic instead of settling for being just good enough.
Directed by: Dean Israelite
Written by: John Gatins, Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless
Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler