POWER RANGERS

With the major box-office success of something like the Transformers franchise, I'm surprised that it's taken until 2017 to reboot the Power Rangers franchise for a modern audience. An avid viewer of the original television series back in the 90s, there was no way I was going to miss their first big screen appearance in twenty years.

When a group of high-school kids; Jason (Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly (Naomi Scott), Billy (RJ Cyler), Trini (Becky G) and Zack (Ludi Lin), uncover an ancient spaceship, they discover  the power coins they stumbled upon have given them superpowers. Meeting Zordon (Bryan Cranston), via his consciousness that has been uploaded to the ship, they learn that they must harness their new abilities and become the Power Rangers, before the evil Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks) destroys all life on Earth.

There is no denying that Power Rangers is cinematic trash and the film's biggest flaw is that it doesn't fully embrace the fact that is what it is, leading to the film becoming a complete and utter tonal mess, unable to decide whether it wants to be an edgy superhero film full of teen angst or an all out cheesy superhero film. In the end it chooses to be both and the film really does suffer because of it.

This is Power Rangers for crying out loud so I expect the over-the-top cheesy finale that unfolds once they morph for the first time however, when this finale comes after ninety minutes of semi-serious build up, it just doesn't fit together at all. That's another problem this film has; it's way too long, clocking in at just over two hours.

The semi-serious side is weighed down by backstories of these misfits who meet while attending Saturday detention but The Breakfast Club this is not. There is way too much baggage attached to these characters, including Billy's autism which was in danger of becoming a gimmick. It's commendable to include such a thing, as well as one of the characters being gay however, there's no need to make such a song and dance about it.

There is fun to be had with Power Rangers mind. From the moment they fully become the Power Rangers right through until the end I felt like a 90s kid again sat in front of the television on a Saturday morning. I did find the build up to all of that tolerable it's just I wish they'd have settled on making the rest of the film as batshit crazy as its final act.

There isn't really much that can be said about the acting in this film other than the five playing the Power Rangers aren't all that bad and Elizabeth Banks has an absolute ball hamming it up as Rita Repulsa, a villain who has nothing about her except being pure evil, which makes a change for once.

Power Rangers didn't disappoint me at all because I wasn't expecting it to be anything but a poor film. My suggestion would be to switch off all brain cells, get the biggest tub of popcorn and just let the insanity take over.

Verdict: ★★