Review of Power Rangers (2017)

Power Rangers (2017) is an action-adventure movie directed by Dean Israelite based on the long running TV series of the same name.

To be honest, I really wanted to like this film. I am a huge, lifelong fan of the power rangers franchise (even in my adulthood because it’s amazing!) and the only thing a Power Rangers movie has lacked is Hollywood funding and today’s CGI. It seems impossible to get wrong, with everything sci-fi cinema can do today and the prior reputation and general plot of the original franchise it seems like a guaranteed success. But, without giving too much away or delving too much into the plot, this movie wasn’t even close to the movie it should have been.

However, with this said, one great thing about Power Rangers is that the film addressed so many long term representation problems in movies, which would have been amazing if anyone actually cared about this film. Only two of the five main protagonists were white, one of whom openly suffered from autism and another was explicitly presented as gay but without a sexual or romantic storyline. This is incredibly significant for a Hollywood movie that is not advertised explicitly as a queer movie or a movie about the rights of people of colour. It’s just a normal film with normal people. Also, it is about time that an action film had male and female protagonists that didn’t get together in the end! I don’t watch action films for a romantic storyline yet they always try to force it on me. For these reasons alone, I cannot actively dislike this film. I really wish that more effort had gone into a decent plot, more than two likeable characters and didn’t try so hard to make jokes land. I probably laughed two or three times during the whole film, which is okay until you realise that they throw in a joke about every couple of minutes.

There are plot holes all over the place (although we can’t pretend that plot holes aren’t a thing Power Rangers are known for), it’s not nearly as funny as they try to make it be and generally it’s just not a good film. However, it is an incredibly important movie for the equality movement within Hollywood cinema and for that reason it has to be seen and appreciated. Just, don’t go into this movie with high hopes.

#2017 #Action #SciFi #Adventure