Power Rangers might be one of the best superhero films in years (if you consider it a superhero film), compared to a lot of the less-than-mediocre ones coming out in waves. This film takes everything that die-hard fans of the characters love and mixes it with just the right amount of modern material. Imagine The Breakfast Club meets magical space rocks with a killer soundtrack, and you've got Power Rangers. There are many awesome aspects of this movie, and I don't believe it got as much credit as it deserved.
The greatest parts about this film are the little things that most people take for granted. A lot of the design and composition choices throughout this film were done so well, and after watching a second time, made me appreciate them even more. Some examples include the colors, most of all. Obviously each character has their own color that they are assigned to, and throughout this film, there are so many subtle nods to the characters that are really impressive. Such as the colors of their respective rooms and many of the clothes that they wear in different scenes. This may seem like an easy thing to do for a film of this capacity, but often not much care is given to the design, and this film handled it outstandingly. The other part of this film that made me love it so much was the tone. The Power Rangers are typically seen as children's characters, which is understandable, but this film brought them into a brand new light. It was the perfect amount of campy nostalgia and dark, modern reboot. I loved how the characters were brought together and represented as well. This film was definitely the best coming-of-age movie this year (sorry, Lady Bird), and the cast seemed to work very smoothly with each other. The characters in this film came from backgrounds of all types, and I adored the varied representation of them all. Seeing a gay character, an Asian character, and a black, autistic character become superheroes was amazing and innovative. Of course, the "leader" of the group was the straight, white male, but I appreciated how much screen time was dedicated to each character and not focusing solely on one.
I do not have much negative criticism of this film, because it is such a pleasure to watch, in all honesty. The only thing that bothered me was certain parts of the writing that seemed a bit lazy or rushed. All of the backstories of the Rangers were so interesting and it was awesome to see how they all had their different problems but were able to come together in the end. The only characters that I feel could have gotten more justice was Kimberly (the Pink Ranger), played by Naomi Scott, and Rita Repulsa, played by Elizabeth Banks. Kimberly's reason for detention was sending one of her friend's nudes around the school and starting controversy. It honestly didn't fit for her character and seemed like one of the writers just trying to relate too heavily on modern high school issues. As for Rita, her motivation for finding the gem and destroying the world was absent. It was never explained in the beginning and never explained with the new Rangers' story either. She just seemed to be absentmindedly evil, which made me disconnect to her as a villain. I also think that the writers got a bit lazy or were rushed to finish the project. While the story in the first two acts was written so well and flushed out the characters beautifully, the third act seemed too cheesy for me. It was very predictable and I feel that spending more time on that part of the story would have been a lot better.
Power Rangers is a surprisingly astounding film from this year that shocked me with its great performances and design throughout. Accompanied by an amazing soundtrack (need hype? Put in some Kanye) and well-handled nostalgia, this film is absolutely incredible.
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