Oct 082017
 
two reels

Long ago, a team of alien Power Rangers were destroyed, along with their enemy, Rita (Elizabeth Banks). In modern times, a group of supposed troublemaking teens—white jock Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery), white depressed Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott), black autistic Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), Hispanic gay Trini (Becky G), and Asian wildman Zack (Ludi Lin)—discover the power ranger talisman that have been buried all these years, turning them into the Red, Pink, Blue, Yellow, and Black Power Rangers, in that order. At the same time, Rita’s body is found by fishermen. Zordon (Bryan Cranston), who is part of an ancient spaceship, trains The Power Rangers to protect a crystal from Rita.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was an odd kids show, created by taking the costumed combat parts of a Japanese show and adding in segments with American actors. It was pretty popular among the six-year-old set. A few very sad thirty-year-olds, looking back with nostalgia, have an unnatural fondness for the show, but for everyone else, the Power Rangers were both obnoxious and unnecessary. So naturally they decided to tone down the silliness and aim the reboot movie not at little kids, but at young teens. That was the first of many terrible ideas, that include jokes about milking a bull, and hiring a director who has only made one small budget feature.

The real shock here is that the film isn’t horrible. For a bad idea, filmed with a putrid dark filter, and seeped in self-importance, it is strangely moving. The five Ranger teens, which scream out that they were created in a corporate boardroom, have surprising chemistry. Each is likable, with just enough back story to give the audience something to hang on to, and together they are better. I’ve seen many teens-coming-together films back to the days of John Hughes, and this one works better than most.

And when all the sincerity starts to get too much, we get an amusing robot (voiced by Bill Hader) and a brightly-colored, over-the-top villain that’s a whole lot of fun. I wouldn’t have pegged Elizabeth Banks as a kids-level-creepy type but she pulls it off with gusto.

We wait for three quarters of the movie to get the Power Ranger in their armor and for the big fights to begin, and when they do, they are… OK. But while the punches and kicks are mediocre, the dialog between the Rangers, filled with feel-good emotion, and the evil monologuing from Rita, makes it all a little better.

This is not a good movie. It was never going to be a good movie. But it’s not a bad one. And that’s some kind of victory.