I will admit what most people are loathe to admit. I am a Power Rangers fan. And while I didn’t start with the series — my first taste of the Power Rangers was the 1995 film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — I caught up with it later. And purely as a Power Ranger fan, Saban’s Power Rangers was fun, fun, fun.
I imagined I would be the only one in the movie theatre. I wasn’t! There were parents with young kids (the kids were as excited about the Megazord as I was), there were teenagers and there were even some people who were as old as me (if the claps and shouts for the cameos at the end of the film and the end credit scene were anything to go by). So here’s what worked for me...
The upgrade
• The central cast — the five teenagers who become the Power Rangers — are good actors. Especially, RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston (the Blue Ranger).
• This movie is a way better teenage drama than the original series or film was. None of the kids are do-gooders. In fact, they are quite the opposite, each dealing with different issues, as Jason Scott (Red Ranger) says “a bunch of screw-ups”.
It addresses diversity in a way that is applause-worthy. The diversity is not just about including people of colour in the equation but dealing with several other important issues. Billy is not just black but also “on the spectrum”, but that is never used as a joke. It is just a part of who he is, alongside being a tech genius and an exceptionally good heart. Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger) is a Latina who is questioning her sexual identity.
Even their realities feel truer than they did in the series. Unlike the original where everyone had two sets of parents, both Billy and Zack Taylor (Black Ranger) have single parents. Kimberly Hart (Pink Ranger) is a cyberbully. Trini’s parents don’t understand the choices she makes, whether it is in terms of her friends or the clothes she wears.
• The film is sleeker and less over-the-top. Whether it is Alpha 5, who says “ai-yi-yi-yi-yi” only once, or the lack of all those unnecessary back flips. The Spandex costumes have been replaced by sectional armour. And the visors that open up give the Transformers-like Zord battle a human face. Even the Zords are so much cooler.
I also like the Rita Repulsa upgrade — Elizabeth Banks has a blast playing the campy villain who spouts juvenile dialogues like “Crush them” — though I am not so sure about making her an erstwhile Ranger who went rogue.
The Nostalgia
• That scene in Saban’s where the five teenagers reject Zordon’s offer and Jason hangs back before he joins the others? Straight from the opening episode of the original series.
• Is it coincidental or deliberate that all the big screen Power Rangers adventures have only one ground battle in their morphed form?
• That one “It’s morphin time” uttered by Jason.
• I had loved the knee-to-groin move in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and I loved the slap in this one.
• When Angel Grove gathers around to cheer and take pictures of the Megazord, guess who’s in the crowd? The original Kimberly Hart (Amy Jo Johnson), the Pink Ranger, and Tommy Oliver (Jason David Frank), the White Ranger. I went squee, so did a couple of others in the hall. I had a crush on Tommy, you see. This also makes them the only Power Rangers to turn up in all Power Rangers movies.
• The Go, Go Power Rangers song in the end credits! So what if it’s a remix.
• The end credit scene. Guess who joins the five Power Rangers in detention? Tommy Oliver!
The could-have-beens
• Saban’s had a better developed characterisation but I missed the action of the original. Not the “aiyahs” and “eeyahs”, just the fights. There needs to be more “morphin time”.
• I missed Rita Repulsa’s many minions. Goldar was the only one who showed up. What about Squatt, Baboo, Finster and Scorpina?
Chandreyee Chatterjee
What did you like/not like about Power Rangers? Tell t2@abp.in
