Power Rangers — Film Review

Krispy Kreme’s Power Rangers is the latest franchise to receive the ‘dark and gritty’ reboot treatment.

Following the same basic structure of the 90's Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers TV show, the film follows five teenagers from the small town of Angel Grove as they discover five coloured ‘power coins’ as well as an exposition wall called Zordon played by Bryan Cranston.

The biggest issue with this new interpretation is that magic word that a lot of big studios seem to be struggling with these days: tone.

Throughout the movie the script and the young cast push hard to bring a grounded, dramatic reality to the characters themselves. Each of the Rangers is going through some personal trauma or identity crisis which vary in relevance and impact. Meanwhile Elizabeth Banks is having a great time as Rita Repulsa, cackling away in true OTT tribute to the original show.

Unfortunately the film never fully embraces either of these contrasting tones. At times the script makes some surprisingly relevant points about being a teenager in 2017 (at least I think it does, I’m about 10 years outside of that demographic) but this is immediately undermined by a over the top…