by Dai » Fri Mar 24, 2017 11:58 am
You could really see the struggle the creative team had in searching for a tone and direction for this movie, but on the whole I think it paid off. I was surprised at how instantly likeable many of the characters were, with Jason and Billy being especially great. Red rangers always run the risk of being bland; not an issue here. The dialogue was generally good too, though I didn't enjoy the few lapses into crude humour.
I can only think of three real negatives. Rita's depiction didn't gel until late in the movie, being overly quirky at first, and not feeling like the threat Zordon bigged her up to be until her power was in full flow. Some of the cuts between scenes were awkward, with a puzzling lack of establishing shots that made it hard to figure out where certain scenes were taking place at first. Finally, if you've seen the first two trailers, you've seen the movie. That one is on the marketing team, of course, but in this case I think they had little choice. Structurally, this is a very old-school, 80s-esque movie, with all its big action money shots crammed into the third act.
Aside from those issues, it was a blast. It could have done with more time in the ranger suits, but the characters are entertaining enough in themselves that it didn't feel like a problem. Mostly though, it just felt like Power Rangers. Definitely something tonally at the RPM end of the spectrum rather than the original goofy Mighty Morphin', but a real Power Rangers story nonetheless. Here's hoping it does good enough business to greenlight a sequel.