re: Official Saban's Power Rangers Movie Thread

quote:

---

Screenwriter John Gatins succeeds in effectively distilling the Power Rangers’ sprawling mythology into a manageable scope and dialing back the campy humor and martial arts fixations that characterized the TV series and liberally informed the feature films. The current version instead emphasizes more realistic dramatic situations by imbuing each Ranger with some type of personal issue.

Whether they’re dealing with bullying, alienation or peer pressure, these teens are more three-dimensional than their Ranger predecessors, but eventually this repetitive effort to emphasize their relatability becomes so heavy-handed as to appear transparently manipulative. However, some judiciously timed humor, frequently aimed at Billy’s tech obsessions or Zordon’s sarcastically judgmental attitude toward his young proteges, helps curtail the self-consciously jokey tone of the earlier films.

Standing out in a field of largely emerging young talent, Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) strikes a heartfelt balance between Billy’s obsessive and creative tendencies, playing them against one another for both humor and emotional impact. Cranston as the pompous alien with unrealistic expectations and Hader as the ever-optimistic robot form a resourceful if unexpected comedic team, but can’t quite match Banks for Rita’s sheer campiness, even if she appears practically unrecognizable under layers of makeup and prosthetics.

Israelite, building on his experience with teen sci-fi feature Project Almanac, orchestrates a vastly more complex array of characters, action set pieces and technical resources for a combined effect that maintains dramatic tension even while teetering on the brink of excess. CGI characters and special effects sequences by Weta Workshop are seamlessly integrated and consistently thrilling.

---