I'm wondering if the recent Power Rangers movie is any good. BEFORE we turn this into a lecture on social justice, bear the following in mind:
I do not care about representation. Unless the group being represented wrong/portrayed negatively is the Chinese or black people or Harry Potter fans, I frankly don't give a flying fig. Why the big deal about an autistic Ranger? Whatever happened to that huge racial controversy (African-American Black Ranger, Asian Yellow Ranger, etc,.)? Or the hypocrisy of having what tantamounted to a Cenobite (Lord Zedd) on a kids show while not adapting a "sensual" character (Shelinda; Seijuu Sentai Gingaman/Lost Galaxy)?
Visuals are everything. I'm an absolute SUCKER for astounding visual effects. Like...Take Joel Schumacher, for example.
A rocking soundtrack. Like Suicide Squad ("Heathens", all those classic rock songs, etc,.) and Batman Forever ("Kiss From a Rose" and "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"), the soundtrack should have a number of good songs. Especially one that's considered the film's unofficial anthem-slash-major theme.
I like what costumes I like. While I REALLY loved the old Rita Repulsa costume ("IT'S SO FLUFFEH!!!"), I'm willing to give the new one a chance.
Are the Rangers still good? I don't mean "do they turn evil?" I mean: "Do they act like good people at all? Do they even DESERVE the title of heroes?" Part of me assumes this will be Teen Titans GO! all over again. Jason will be a douche with MASSIVE psychological issues, Kimberly will be a retard, and Zack & Billy will become obnoxiously mean AND stupid.
Try addressing the listed topics while giving me your suggestion.
I don't really see the need for the use of that word.
In terms of the film, I have no intention of seeing it. I fully realise that it's ridiculous, but I don't like when things from my childhood are remade. My sister has seen it though, and she said it was good - she said it had a reasonable balance of action and cheesy moments as you'd expect from Power Rangers.
I liked it. As a fan of the original show I went in cautiously optimistic because the film is NOTHING like the show. That aspect was both disappointing and one of the best things about the movie, so I'll say see it with an open mind. This is a Power Rangers movie with very little Power Rangers in it, the characters don't morph until the last 30-40 minutes of the movie. Up to that point it is a character driven movie.
Visuals are a mixed bag. The CGI enhancements on the suits look great, as do the models used for some of the action sequences. However the zords were below-par in my opinion, I think this is both down to the choice of designs and the fact that the movie is a lot less expensive than other superhero movies these days. Some of the cinematography and practical effects were amazing, the underwater scenes were a highlight.
Music will probably be disappointing for you. There's no original songs that I know of, instead we get about 30 seconds of the cover version of the classic theme song that was used in the 90s movie as well as the same end credits song. There are a number of contemporary songs such as We Don't Believe What's On TV - Twenty One Pilots, HandClap - Fitz & The Tantrums and Power - Kanye West.
I wasn't a fan of the Ranger costumes when they were first revealed and while they have some flaws (they don't look much like their dinosaurs and yellow, black and blue look too similar) they look fantastic in motion and have really grown on me. Rita's costume is very different than the classic, for reasons I won't go into because of spoilers.
As for the Rangers being good, again this is where the film does its own thing rather than follow the show. As I said, they don't morph into Rangers until late in the movie and this is because they have to earn it and learn how to be a team. The group aren't already friends in this movie, and all of them have issues they have to deal with. Three of them meet in detention and the other two show up at the same place at the same time when they discover the power coins. These are characters that have done things wrong or are going through personal struggles and the movie takes a lot of time dealing with this and it does it well. I think I enjoyed that part of the movie more than the Power Ranger parts. The characters get their own little arcs and maybe even more depth than they ever did in the show and it makes them more relateable for it. Except Kimberley, who is an awful person. I will post a spoiler to explain that as it really was a huge misstep for the film, read it at your own risk.
Kimberley betrayed her best friend's (who is underage) trust and sent a nude photo of the friend to the friend's boyfriend and it then spread around the school. Despite essentially distributing what would legally be considered child pornography, she gets of easy with detention on Saturdays and her friends understandably no longer wanting to hang around with her any more. Kimberley cuts her own hair off in school with some scissors because her old friends were mean to her and later confides in Jason, crying about what she did. This makes us think that she is sorry and can redeem herself but later, when she is already a Ranger and supposed to be a hero, she destroys one of the friend's car and laughs about it saying "that'll teach you".
Overall I would give it about a 7/10. It is a lot of fun despite its flaws and is easily better than the Marvel movies, so if you like them you should enjoy this.
