Hey there! Today, I’m sharing a film review of the new Power Rangers film. Growing up in the nineties, Power Rangers were an entertainment staple. I was often getting beat up in play fights. Now much older, I’d gotten the new Power Rangers movie on DVD.
Tarnishing the Spotless Original
I don’t mean this in a bad way at all. The original Power Rangers cast was presented as a perfect group of people. If anything, I found them unmemorable and interchangeable over the years. Aside from name changes and costume design variations, there was no way for me to notice the characters had changed in the original versions of the show.
This film, however, presents troubled teens as our heroes. In doing so, they are humanized as characters. Each one of them is then given a redemption arc through their relationships with each other.
Diversity
There’s certainly much more diversity in this Power Rangers story. Trini, our first queer ranger, is struggling with revealing her sexual orientation to her family. (Oh, and did I mention that she’s a woman of color?). Kimberly Hart is played by a bi-racial woman.
Zachary Taylor is played by a man of color, and Billy Cranston as well! Billy’s on the autism spectrum and he nothing but pure love.
Training Sequences
My favorite aspect of this film is the coming of age as heroes theme that runs through it. The best training sequence I have ever seen is in this film. And, I love that the characters are not perfect or even good at fighting. I love the friendship budding through their training, through their attempts at connecting to the morphing grid to get into the Power Ranger suits.
Alpha 5 is hilarious and he punches Billy in the nuts, which is very funny for some reason. This movie brings Power Rangers to a less dated setting, and character depictions that are more relevant to a wider audience.
That villain though
The one part that is very cringe-worthy is (aside from the bull thing at the beginning) Rita Repulsa. I never liked Rita, even as a kid. So, I wasn’t really surprised that I didn’t like her in this one. I understand what she’s like, but I found her upsetting because she’s terrifyingly scary to the rangers.
Still, the humor is great. “Did you just slap her?” “Yeah. Weird, right?” Ah, perfection. I love this cast, and I do hope they make more movies together. Also the whole Krispy Kreme thing was hilarious, too.
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