Film review: Power Rangers reboot lacks power and range?

Power Rangers

Director: Dean Israelite

Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks

Two stars

When I first heard that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was getting a big-screen reboot, I was surprised to say the least.

In its early days, the franchise, which was based on a 1993 United States reboot of the long-­running Japanese Super Sentai Series, rewrote the scripts and dubbed them into English, with some extra scenes featuring American actors. It enjoyed a brief period of cult fandom, critical bewilderment, and plenty of criticism for aiming fairly violent action scenes at a ­pre-teen audience.

The show made it to two big screen spin-offs in the 90s, the last being 1997's critically panned box office flop Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie.

For the reboot, director Dean Israelite has attempted to do away with some of the campness of the original. The costumes take their cues from more modern ­superhero franchises over the cheap motorcycle leathers and helmets of yore. The effects are in places quite impressive – the closing battle offers a visually impressive nod to classic Japanese monster movies, and he even pulls in a couple of genuine Hollywood big names in the form of Bryan Cranston (as the Rangers’ mentor Zordon) and Elizabeth Banks (as the ridiculously-named villain Rita Repulsa) alongside the inexperienced young actors portraying our heroes.

Unfortunately, in his drive to move away from the original material, Israelite instead offers a lesson in teen ­moralising, and clunkily emphasises the importance of team work as the means by which our troubled teen heroes will ­finally be able to “morph” into their superhero personalities. Unfortunately, the characters are so poorly developed we don’t really pay too much attention, wishing instead they’d just sort out their teamwork issues, morph, and get down to the action sequences.

Banks is the standout. Seemingly the only member of the cast to realise the silliness of this whole endeavour, she turns a great pantomime villain, but by the final act, neither her hammed-up performance, nor the arrival of the Power Rangers’ mechadinosaur companions The Zords, can save the film, never mind the world.

cnewbould@thenational.ae