Film Review:: Power Rangers (2017 Reboot)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Cert: 12A

Director: Dean Israelite

Screen writer: (screenplay) John Gatins (story by) Matt Sazama , Burk Sharpless , Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney , (based upon "Power Rangers" created by) Haim Saban , Shuki Levy.

Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott , RJ Cyler , Becky G. , Elizabeth Banks , Bryan Cranston , Bill Hader , Matt Shively , Cody Kearsley , David Denman, Robert Moloney , Anjali Jay , Sarah Grey , Morgan Taylor Campbell

Running time: 2h 4min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: One of the main characters stripe down to her bra and pants , Main charater with his shirt off.

Violence & Gore: Moderate portrayals of violence with some detail, are depicted, albeit justified by context. Said portrayals of violence also include some infliction of pain and injury but they are not detailed, intense or prolonged.

The film contains some scenes of violence, most of which depict property destruction, where characters throw punches and kicks, as well as perform body slams during fighting sequences.

Some of the stronger depictions include a scene where the main antagonist is seen to press her weapon against a human character's throat, causing pain to her victims and black veins to appear on their skin.

In other scenes, characters are seen spitting blood as a result of injuring themselves due to falls or having suffered from a physical blow.

These instances of violence make the film more appropriate for a teen audience

Profanity: The film contains an incomplete utterance of an expletive, as well as some instances of mild language such as the terms "bitch", "damn" and "shit".


Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: None

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 'Power Rangers' is a reboot of the Power Rangers franchise where five teenagers stumble upon mysterious badges that grant them superhuman abilities. Supervised by a robot, Alpha 5, and mentored by Zordon, a wise galactic sage, the teens undertake grueling physical training to become the new Power Rangers to protect their home town, Angel Grove, from destruction by their nemesis, Rita Ripulsa.

Official Canada Rating: PG [violence; coarse language] (British Columbia; Consumer Protection BC)

Official MPAA rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and for some crude humor

Story: High school outcasts stumble upon an old alien ship, where they acquire superpowers and are dubbed “The Power Rangers”. Learning that an old enemy of the previous generation has returned to exact vengeance, the group must harness their powers and use them to work together and save the world.

Likes : Here’s something you've never heard me say: "Power Rangers" is actually good for what they've done with this film, which I'm actually shocked with. From the trailers- which don't do this film any justice- you kind of expect it to be overly-cheesy and fake; you go into the cinema with low expectations, which is understandable.

This film does what it's meant to do- entertain you. Yes, there are a few flaws which ruins the 3rd act of the film slightly, but the rest of the film is actually good. The acting is solid, especially from Elizabeth Banks. She normally gets silly side character roles, which doesn't really make her shine, but playing the main villain in this film- wow. She was incredible.

Well done to the character scriptwriter; Elizabeth brought the evil out in the character with perfection and less cheese than before. This version of Rita Repulsa is different  and it works for the film- and, yes, we are given a brief background of her, which was brilliantly done.

Dacre Montgomery (Red Ranger), Naomi Scott (Pink Ranger), RJ Cyler (Blue Ranger), Ludi Lin (Black Ranger), and Becky G. (Yellow Ranger) Did great performances with their characters, playing the misfit high school students down on life until they are given powers to protect the world.

What I love about these characters is that they aren't just written in the story as they get powers and become Power Rangers; what this film does is give the audience this journey, becoming the heroes that they have been chosen to be, giving them inner conflict that they must overcome to become these Rangers.

This is how stories should be done- giving the audience some sense of reality in characters that you can relate and warm up to; it gets to a point where you love these characters. What shocked even me is that there is a beautiful but tearjerking moment-even for me- made especially poignant with the choice of music they played that gave this film more edge that expected.

If a film can make the audience cry at a scene, that to me is perfect storytelling, as it shows that the director knows what they are doing. Bryan Cranston’s cameo as Zordon and Bill Hader’s voice of Alpha 5 were also brilliant, though short of screen.

With Bryan’s performance, he kind of came off as a little bit of a jerk, but you can understand why Zordon is the way he is; Bryan actually brought that character out well Bill as Alpha 5 did good voice acting, if in a strange, quirky manor with a weird design.

I was a worried about the suit design from looking at the pictures, but on-screen they look good, especially the red and silver, which work well together. The other suits bring a pretty bad ass look as well.

The hero walk in slow motion, which we saw in the trailers,was a great scene and gave the film a sense of power, unity, and badass butt-kicking.

I’ve got to hand it the director- even though this won't win an Oscar or be everyone’s cup of tea when it comes to films- they have done a great (fan) service with a film that the fans should love.

Yes, there are a few moments that give you a laugh here and there and a few scenes that are cheesy,, but there was one moment with Elizabeth character that some might find stupid; but it was kind of one of those funny moments with all the chaos going on around her and she’s just doing what she’s doing, and you sit there laughing.

So, this isn’t a bad film for what they did as a reboot of the 1990 Power Rangers movie.

Questions for viewers that have seen this film: What do you think of Alpha 5’s design? Did you think it was good, or could it have been designed better? What did you think of the film as a whole? Do you think the third act could have been better, or was it okay?   

Dislikes : The one big problem in the third act of the film is the Dino-zord C.G.I. I'm not sure how much budget went into the animation of these zoids, but I do feel that they could have been done better; maybe they should have contacted Dreamworks Studios for help on these because the C.G.I. is no where near the standard of the “Transformers” franchise. It’s not that they look bad-  I just feel this could have been improved because the third act kind of lost the film’s focus.

The odd nit-picks in the film of things that I didn't think were necessary in the film were the dick and butt jokes that seriously didn’t need to be in the film and a blatantly racist comment, and I quote, "Everyone is a different colour"; this could be taken two ways, which could be ignored or be racist to some people, so this might go against the film.     

Overall : Great fan service, Brilliant character writing, Great acting, Brilliant villainess, Not bad overall film.

Rating: 5 out of 5 for Entertainment / 8 out out 10 for good reboot.