Superhero Media: Power Rangers (2017)

Although I'm not a fan, I feel that I do actually "get" Power Rangers as a franchise, and why it has such appeal. Whilst I never really enjoy watching more than a little of the programme, a giant robot fighting a giant monster on a nicely made model set will always get my interest. When the reviews of the 2017 Power Rangers film were overwhelmingly negative, it piqued my interest, as the trailers had looked decent enough, if a tad generic. Well, it took a while for Power Rangers to come to Netflix, then I kept putting it off, but one night, I had the house to myself and some commission painting to do, so I gave it a go. In my opinion, the major issue with Power Rangers centres around the studio being unwilling to take any real risks. The characters, story, soundtrack and narrative are rather dull and generic, with little sprinklings of good ideas here and there, yes, but that never seem to gain any real traction. 

In the small fishing village of Angel Grove, no really, the "Breakfast Club" of detention accidentally all end up at the same mysterious cave one evening and discover magic disks with the ability to destroy anything they touch other than the five teenagers with attitude. Before you can say "world-building", the teens have encountered Alpha and Zordon and have the background on Rita and Goldar. There is an odd tension to Power Rangers, between the desire to build up the characters and the conflicting rush to the third act with the big CGI monster fight. I want to like Billy and Jason because they're portrayed sympathetically, but we spend so little time with each that I don't get the sense of them as people beyond broad stokes. Yes, it's cool that Trini is queer, but it doesn't inform the film beyond a moment between her and Zach over their mutual trauma, and I'm not sure being a carer for a sick parent is equitable to being queer in a conservative household. 

The big blowout against Rita in the finale is sadly pretty forgettable as well, with the secret to forming Megazord being the power of friendship, even if the Zords themselves do look pretty neat. There is a moment where the Zords are running into battle and the classic Ron Wasserman "Go Go Power Rangers" starts and I had some hope for a moment, but it's undercut with an ableist joke about how the Autistic boy is uncoordinated. Elizabeth Banks is fun, but clearly no one told her the tone everyone else was going for, I do like the idea that she was a corrupted former Ranger as an origin, not that it really got covered in a significant way. Power Rangers is a dull mess, which is a shame, because as a franchise, it really has potential to be more than the glorified toy commercial most series settle for being.