Power Rangers is a 2017 American superhero film based on the franchise of the same name, directed by Dean Israelite and written by John Gatins. It is the third Power Rangers film, and is a reboot. The film features the main characters of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series with a new cast, starring Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Banks.

I remember watching some of the tv shows as a kid and late into my teens and I remember watching the first movie once or twice. It was never one of my favourites as the franchise has always been aimed at kids and teens and never appealed to me much once I hit 20. This obsession with teens as superheros must have some qualities that certain people like but it never worked well for me. Over the years I had forgotten about this franchise and only remember it in 2011 when I started binge watching the show Flashpoint and saw that Amy Jo Johnson was also in Power Rangers.

This reboot has 5 young adults acting as teens who acquire the Power Coins in some rock formation. The Coins were brought to earth by the six interplanetary warriors, the Power Rangers, who arrived 66 million years ago, tasked with protective life on earth. They were betrayed and destroyed by a former Green Ranger, Rita Repulsa, but the leader Zordon is able to get their robot Alpha 5 to cause a meter shower that wipes out the dinosaurs and kills him while knocking off Rita into the bottom of the ocean where she supposedly dies and decays. Jason, Billy, Kimberly, Zack & Trini are forged into a team and practice their newly acquired super strength and powers.

A fishing boat pulls up Rita’s corpse and once out of the freezing cold, she thaws and attacks humans to gain her powers and former self back. Zordon’s consciousness is still in an ancient ship buried in an underground cavern beneath the sea. They have 11 days before Rita reaches full power and summons her minion Goldar (a creature made out of gold that she acquires from stores and very originally named) and destroys all life on earth. After training for 11 days the team finally bonds and discovers that they can morph and they have one major battle, in which much destruction is caused to buildings, landscape and vehicles (but I doubt if any human was killed) and Rita is slapped into space.

The kids return to their former lives and things are normal though they retain their powers. It’s a bit too cliched, formulaic and rushed and it’s not very entertaining either. I was happy to see Naomi Scott (who I last saw in the short lived Terra Nova) but the rest of the main cast of Rangers are new to me. Choosing Elizabeth Banks to be the villain was a bad idea. Bryan Cranston as Zordor? It’s more comical than anything and perhaps they should have done an animated version. The movie flopped at the box office and I am not surprised. 6 outta 10!