Yeah, with Rita, I mean, it worked, but it was like with Goldar, where I think they could have done better. It wasn't enough to ruin the movie though. And I think it worked in part because they didn't give her MORE screen time, which I know sounds horrible for me to say, but I think it's true. I just think Banks was there to have fun and just wanted to take this back to the old school Power Rangers show - referencing source material, but wanted to throw her twist in there and I just don't think it fit well with the rest of the tone. I don't know if they wrote her that way or she took the liberties herself, but I hope they tone her down just a tad, if they make a sequel. Or bring in Zedd and overshadow her.
I can't remember how she worded it, but I liked her "make my monster grow" line, as a shout-out to the show.
She felt like an amalgamation of Enchantress and Letoker. I still liked her a lot, she was one of my favorite things about this; I loved her updated origin, as well as her laugh. I miss Machiko Soga tho.
She felt like an amalgamation of Enchantress and Letoker. I still liked her a lot, she was one of my favorite things about this; I loved her updated origin, as well as her laugh. I miss Machiko Soga tho.
I just checked to see if she had ever talked about it in any interviews, and she does near the end of this. It's sweet how she got this role, since her sons love Power Rangers so much.
I just checked to see if she had ever talked about it in any interviews, and she does near the end of this. It's sweet how she got this role, since her sons love Power Rangers so much.
Another review time - this time with more spoilers and more thoughts. So beware. I tried to tag most of the spoilers as best as possible though.
Overall, this film is what I wanted and expected from a Power Rangers movie. I was extremely pleased with the final product - tone and all. While I thought there were some areas they could have been improved, there were some areas that I don’t think I could have asked for better. This is a great start to hopefully a very fruitful movie franchise.
I want to take a second to comment on the opening scene…WOW. What a treat. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. It was something we’ve (and by we, I mean Power Ranger fans) never really got to see before. It’s always been eluded to or talked about in some capacity, whether it be in the old comics or mentioned in passing in the show, but we
finally get to see Zordon battle Rita
and get some insight as to why there’s so much bad blood. I loved the alien dialect and the CGI here was delicious! I even liked part where Zordon
asked for Alpha to send the comet/asteroid
almost insinuating (at least to me) that it was what killed the dinosaurs. Again, maybe. Maybe not. Whatever. I loved it. If not for that, the scene really played an important role for explaining why the zords look the way they do.
The Cast: I can’t praise the cast enough - and while I mentioned that I didn’t care for Banks a lot, I admire what she brought to the role. For me, she was almost too over the top, but I have to say that Rita was like that in the source material - definitely not that dark - but I can’t really be mad at Banks - I think she really tired to do a quality job. It just wasn’t my thing though - and that’s okay. I’m sure some of you will love her, but others, like myself, won’t. The rest of the cast though….WOW. From Lin to Montgomery to Scott, these guys embraced their roles. And let me say, of the five, R.J. Cyler is a gem. This kid has got all of the makings to make waves in Hollywood for years to come. He arguably has the strongest presence of the five, and he’s probably the one ranger that stood out the most because he is so likable. Brian Cranston as Zordon was such a nice touch. It’s not one of the roles he’ll be remembered for, but his voice worked so well. And he brings so much maturity and just that feeling of experience to the role (and film) that I think this movie needed. Hader voicing Alpha was really a great move too - and I was surprised that he was able to make Alpha his own. I definitely miss the crazy “Aye yai yai” voice from the series, but Hader did good.
The Designs: Color me impressed. I mentioned it earlier, but the toys for the movie look hideous, to the point where, I’m almost shocked at how good the final product on screen was. Alpha 5 looks really darn good. Sure, the round orb eyes are a bit of a head scratcher - but I don’t care to be honest. Hader brought that character to life and the on-screen movement and flow to his walk and personality really overshadowed the flaws. Zordon looked about as good as I could have expected. I miss the energy tube of his, but I’ll take what we got. And then, we have the Rangers and their zords. First off, the morphing sequence….is great. And when we see them get their suits for the first time and walk down the corridor in slow-mo, it was definitely a great time. One thing that took me off guard though was
seeing Billy morph randomly
for the first time. And I’m not sure if it was the surprise element, but when I first saw him in suit form, I wasn’t super impressed. Not sure why. I will say though, I thought the design of the Triceratops helmet looked the worst of the five. It’s not bad, but it’s not the most flattering. Again, maybe it’s the contours? It’s a nit-pick of mine, but hey, I’m trying to keep the fan-boy goggled views at bay.
The individual zords are pretty much perfect in my eyes. The Tyrannosaurus is basically a bad-***. I love that zord and so wish we got better toys because I would love to own that thing. And surprisingly, the Mastodon’s eight legs weren’t a distraction! I have no idea why they gave it eight legs, but whatever, didn’t phase me. The designs translated well on screen - I didn’t have any cringe moments seeing them in their individual forms. I loved seeing them all work together to battle Goldar. Things just flowed so darn well. As for Goldar, I loved the story and purpose of the character - but I didn’t love the design. And yeah, I’ll go so far as to say it was lazy - and I have no idea whose idea it was to
make him from gold and then have Rita fueled by the desire to strip Angel Grove of all of its gold, such that she could make Goldar.
I get that it’s in the name, but I just think, there was definitely more sound decisions that could have been made. But visually, it came to life well - as in, I think the CGI specialists did a great job with what they were told to make. As for the Megazord, I don’t think it came out as well as I was hoping. I do think they lost some of the lovability from the show, when they decided to design what they did. I think the Megazord has a lot of character in the show, and while the zords in the movie had a lot of character, I think they lost that when they combined them. I don’t think it looked bad, but I don’t think it was the best that they could have come up with. And I hope they redesign him in the sequel, which I think they can EASILY do, given the show history. And I also don’t care for them being in separate parts of the Megazord. They should be in the same cockpit, in my opinion, and (RANT ALERT) they better bring the **** Power Sword in the sequel too. I didn’t care for the swords we got. It’s either Power Sword or bust. I want an electricity-charged sword and final ‘slash' scene, followed by the monster falling to its knees. I don’t need an explosion…but probably couldn’t hurt.
The Story: It’s an origins story and it’s what this movie needed, in my opinion. It's more mature than we're used to seeing, without going to the point where it loses its identity as a Power Rangers movie. It makes you appreciate the characters so much more and builds such a solid foundation for many films to come - assuming we get more. BUT, it came a cost. They focused so much on character development that they neglected the action. And I honestly think that it’s this reason that the movie is doing so poorly on Rotten Tomatoes. I was fueled by hype going into this movie - in case none of you could tell. This movie could have been four hours of a pot boiling, but if you gave me those last 15-30 minutes (however long it was) for Megazord and Goldar battles, it would have been worth it, TO ME. Unfortunately, I’m not an average Power Ranger fan - and most that see this movie are likely anything but fans. They won’t see it that way. They’ll label the movie as a missed opportunity. They’ll appreciate the last 15-30 minutes for what it was, but proclaim it came 15-30 minutes too late. And I completely understand why. It’s one of the things that it is what it is. I don’t know what else to say. It can’t be changed. It’ll be really unfortunate though if it holds it back from getting a sequel from Lionsgate. I think the writers got it right here. They took a risk and I hope it pays off. While the movie has its flaws, there’s just too many other good decisions for me to knock it. They even tastefully know where to incorporate the cheese factor and when appropriate, and for that alone, I give them props.
Random thoughts and spoilers:
The music that they used, especially in the trailer and zord battle scenes, was really a nice touch. I thought the choices were well made and added another element to the movie that illustrated how important music can be for the viewer.
Zeo Crystal!!!!
. I mean how is that for fan service?!? I was F-L-O-O-R-E-D that they were so bold as to throw that into the first movie.
My favorite scene was the zords side-by-side in route to Angel Grove and then they throw the Power Rangers theme up for 5 or so seconds. I almost cried tears of joy. It just fit so perfectly - and was so well timed.
And then you give us
the original Tommy and Kim (JDF and Amy Jo) at the end
???? I mean, by that time, I was ready to throw the rest of my money at the screen, I was so happy.
All in all, if I had to rate this movie on a letter scale, I’d give it a B+. There’s definitely room to improve, but it was a solid start to what could be an amazing franchise. And now that the main players have been established, I don’t think you’ll see Lionsgate make the mistake again, with a lack of action sequences. This movie easily deserves a sequel and if they don’t give us one (whether by choice or not) when you end the movie with
the arrival of Tommy Oliver
, then I’ll be extremely disappointed.
All in all, thank you Lionsgate and everyone involved for making the fans a Power Rangers film that I think you should be very proud of. As a life-long fan of the Power Rangers, this was a special film for me on so many levels.
Alpha 5 literally takes the Rangers into Zordon's garage where he keeps them to show them off, but they don't use them.
Zack stows away in one of them though and accidentally wreaks a bit of havoc on some mountains, but after that they aren't used again until the end of the movie.
Alpha 5 literally takes the Rangers into Zordon's garage where he keeps them to show them off, but they don't use them.
Zack stows away in one of them though and accidentally wreaks a bit of havoc on some mountains, but after that they aren't used again until the end of the movie.
I mean, it's a bit similar to whenever the Fast & the Furious team gets new cars. They show them off under some nice spotlights. They look pretty dang nice; but you don't see them come out of a volcano or anything.
The best scene with them is the one 2099 mentioned, where the Zords charge into battle together with the MMPR theme playing. I was fanboying pretty hard.
It really lived up to my expectations. I'm going to have a huge post here in a bit, but it does the Power Ranger name justice for old school fans - while at the same time appealing to a new generation.
It's far from Oscar quality and there's a few things I didn't like, but if this is the start of new movie franchise....I'm ecstatic.
This is good to know. I never expected to be anything amazing, especially from the later trailers... but the fact this is serviceable based upon reviews makes it a success in my eyes. I'll try to find it this weekend since I'm not going to a possible bed bug movie theater
Either tonight or tomorrow I'm going to watch the PR episodes where they loose their old zords and get the new ones along with the white ranger introduction arc. I can't wait to see this movie!
Here's hoping 3A does a line of 1/6 figures plus a 18 inch megazord. They did turtles so I see no reason for them not to jump on this, especially if it does well, it looks like it's heading for a 50 million opening so hopefully that bodes well for a high end line.
I'm not worried about the lousy merchandising that is already out..I imagine one of the Bandai affiliate companies will eventually pick up the license.
Look at Hasblow and the Bay Transformers and license. First everything was Hasblow but within a span of a year, many manufacturers are doing Bay Transformers products to exact film accuracy
There was absolutely nothing in here that reflects the original or ties back to its roots, other than the most superficial of elements.
Beyond the messy plot, weak character development, lame attempts at humor, forced conflict, and badly paced story, what's most missed is the optimistic heart that the show had. A good part of the appeal was that the Rangers were people you could look up to even when they werent using thier powers. Instead, most of them are degenerates (I don't blame Kim's former friends for hating her considering she did something extremely awful to them and never even attempts to make it right), and the very first scene in the freaking movie is Jason's friend realizing that he sexually pleasured a cow.....
What's wrong with actually having decent people as the leads? Why is it that every main character has to be a troubled anti hero? Not a single character bears any resemblance to their television counterpart other than first name. Even Zordon is kind of a jerk with his own agenda who never once provides any kind of genuine mentorship. And dear God, why does every kids movie need sexual jokes and swears crammed in?
Calling this movie a modern and updated remake of Power Rangers simply because it features morphing and Zords is like calling "Handcock" a modern and updated remake of Superman simply because it features a strong guy who can fly.
but within a span of a year, many manufacturers are doing Bay Transformers products to exact film accuracy 
