Film Review: Power Rangers

"The Answer To What Is Happening To You Is Here. You Five Are The Power Rangers..."

Of all the many facets of my well-nurtured youth between the mid 1990's and the early years of the 20th century, Power Rangers was the pretty much the last thing I personally had in mind to be reincarnated and re-imagined for the purpose of reaching out to a modern-day audience, yet here we are this week reviewing a movie which not only conjures up a youth-infused opinion regarding the sheer awesomeness of 1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a film which featured the iconic presence of Paul Freeman as Ivan Ooze and in an adult-fuelled retrospect, isn't as awesome as originally thought, but also begs the question where Hollywood will eventually stop when it comes to flogging and remaking as many footnotes of entertainment that they possibly can. Featuring a primarily youth-infused cast such as Me, Earl and the Dying Girl's RJ Cyler and The Martian's Naomi Scott, each battling for screen time against not only their similarly aged peers but the famous figures of both Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks, Power Rangers is a tiresome and wholly predictable CGI-fuelled mess which can't decide whether it wants to adhere to a Nolan-esque level of maturity or come across as just an overly corny cheese-fest, resulting in a movie which bears similarities to the latest adaptation of Fantastic Four in all the worst possible ways.

Straight off the bat, Power Rangers suffers from a fundamental flaw of having five leading characters who aren't only ridiculously underdeveloped but are just outright annoying, with introductions ranging from a criminalised youth who finds spare time to wreak havoc on the local town to a bitter bully who thinks it's fun to sex shame her friend and assault her boyfriend whilst wondering why each of these relationships goes downhill rather fast. Although I understand there is a level of flexibility within a narrative which centres around superheroes and aliens but it takes even the most optimistic of audiences to accept that the five youths portrayed on-screen are indeed the best humanity has to offer. Aside from monotonous central characters, Power Rangers suffers too from the same illness which has raged Michael Bay and Zak Snyder movies for years by including a final act which can only be described as an amalgamation of Man of Steel and Transformers in the worst way possible, utilising awful CGI in creating foes which not only come across as spitting images of the watchers from Darren Aronofsky's Noah, but are as threatening as a battery powered furby.

Whilst the contractual duties of both Cranston and Banks are both adhered to in some form, both appear and act in ways which can only be seen as dollar-ringed, with the former literally doing absolutely nothing in the twenty seconds he is on screen both in physical and digital form, whilst the latter taking the form of the villainous Rita Repulsa, a simply terrible villain whose penchant for gold infused items can only be regarded as a metaphor for Banks' appetite for a Power Rangers signed cheque, thanks to a performance which bears similarities to Eddie Redmayne's camp-fuelled monstrosity in Jupiter Ascending, just without a sense of memorability. Power Rangers ultimately is two hours of film-making recklessness which you won't get back and being aware of the film-maker's promise of at least a SIX movie story arc, perhaps we can live in the hope of their first offering being indeed the worst of the bunch. In conclusion, 2017's Power Rangers is the type of movie in which you leave longing for the ripeness of a 1990's Ivan Ooze in order to push it into a realm of enjoyment which is severely lacking through almost two elongated hours of dullness. Not for me.

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Feature: Looking Forward to 2017 in Film

2017 in Film

With 2016 being such a superb year for cinema, one which once again proved that the golden age of film is most definitely still alive and kicking, the onus is most definitely on 2017 to make it even better. Of course, the cinematic schedule of the year is pretty darn obvious in terms of the big-hitters, the blockbusters and the rafter of franchise advancing sequels, but 2017 is arguably the biggest cinematic year in recent memory, with more superhero films than you can shake a stick at amongst those wild, hidden gems which only arise as the great works of art they are until they are sought out and polished by the critical masses. To start the year off with a bang therefore, it wouldn't be the same without a glance into the near future, admiring the masses of movies that are set to grace our screens over the course of the next twelve months whilst making a psychically-charged attempt to pick out the true highlights, the indie-sensations, the money-grabbing cash-ins and of course, the one we have all been waiting for; Power Rangers. Don't lie, you can't wait either. 

Straight off the bat on January the 1st we begin the year with the triple header of A Monster Calls, Justin Kurzel's cinematic adaptation of Assassin's Creed, and of course, the new Martin Scorsese flick Silence, a historical drama featuring the acting bravura of Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Kylo Ren himself, Adam Driver, and whilst Scorsese hasn't exactly really hit the lofty heights of movie classics such as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas in recent years, Silence is an interesting, long-awaited personal project for the directorial legend, one of which surely rivals Michael Fassbender's cape wearing assassin for best film to kick off the new year. Mouthwateringly, the entire month of January is destined to include some real winners, no more so than Whiplash director Damien Chazelle's latest Oscar-touted movie La La Land, a much-anticipated romantic drama starring the winning duo of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, whilst films such as Manchester By The Sea, Lion, Jackie and Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge all manage to fit in screen-time before the final preparations for the upcoming Academy Awards embrace our smaller sized screens at home. 

Heading into February and March, we witness the beginning of the numerous amount of sequels and franchise expanding releases such as Rings, Fifty Shades Darker, Logan and of course Kong: Skull Island which boasts a staggeringly impressive cast with the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson leading the line against the infamous giant ape. Arguably John Wick: Chapter 2 is the stand-out sequel amongst the many thrown at us this time of year, continuing the tale of the ridiculously entertaining first film starring Keanu Reeves as the titular suave-obsessed hit-man. Elsewhere, Disney gets ready for another hefty pay day with the release of the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast within a two-week period which includes releases of Power Rangers, Ghost In The Shell and an exciting new project from High-Rise director Ben Wheatley in the form of Free Fire which features Cillian Murphy and Brie Larson in leading roles. For Easter however, the respective marketing teams have really got their work cut out with back-to-back releases with Furious 8, yes, the eighth Fast and Furious movie, and of course, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, featuring more retro music and perhaps the coolest character of the year in the form of baby Groot. 

Heading into May and through to June, we continue the rafter of greatly anticipated sequels including the likes of Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, World War Z 2 as well as the latest in the line of two of the highest grossing franchises of all time in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and, get ready to feel morbidly ill at the thought of it, the latest Transformers movie from Michael Bay. Budding for the most attention within all of these releases however is the next DC Universe release, this time focusing on the origins of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman who was used so poorly and sparingly within Batman Vs. Superman. Could this finally be the film which reinvigorates the DC canon? Well for starters Zak Snyder isn't involved in a directorial capacity, instead settling for both writer and producer, (Gulp!) with that honour instead going to Patty Jenkins, director of the Oscar winning Monster, and this alone could be the kick-start DC's respective cinematic universe sorely requires. Aside from flying superheroes, the real stand-out movies of the year both arrive in early summertime with Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and the hotly anticipated release of The Dark Tower, based upon the annoyingly addictive anthology of novels by Stephen King, being two of the movies that I have my sights well and truly set on. 

Following in the footsteps of The Dark Tower, the latest adaptation of Stephen King's It will grace our screens heading into the latter months of the year featuring Bill Skarsgård as the venomous Pennywise the clown whilst the ultra-reliable Denis Villeneuve tackles the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, one of my all-time favourite films, featuring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford who reprises his role as the titular bounty hunter, Rick Deckard. With Villeneuve really hitting his stride in recent years with the likes of Sicario and Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 is in safe hands and something that could potentially become the real masterpiece of the year. The final eight weeks of the year feature two of the big blockbusters in the form of Justice League and of course, Star Wars: Episode VIII which will undoubtedly be a melancholic time for fans of the series after the loss of Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. It will be interesting to see in the cinematic capacity how the film will deal with such a shocking loss, but it also will still be an undoubted success in the hands of Looper director Rian Johnson. 2017 is set to be another supermassive year in the land of cinema and whilst 2016 is a particularly hard act to follow, I look forward to the ambiguity which lies ahead.