If not for a handful of scattered call-backs and an amusingly incongruous performance from Elizabeth Banks (who plays the evil Rita Repulsa with such go-for-broke glee that it feels like she’s fulfilling a Make-A-Wish request for a dying fanbase), it would seem as though this movie were embarrassed of its origins. In fact, from the symphonic music that plays over the opening credits to the film’s glacially-paced origin story and the city-destroying robot fight with which it culminates, “Power Rangers” owes far more to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the “Twilight” generation, and Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movies than it does its own source material. READ MORE: Elizabeth Banks On Why She’s Not Directing “Pitch Perfect 3”
And it’s not for children, whose parents might let them watch the TV show on Saturday mornings, but may not understand why they’re supposed to laugh during the pre-credits scene in which a high school prank goes awry after a juvenile delinquent admits to mistaking a bull for a cow and yanking its dick until some “milk” came out.
“Power Rangers” isn’t for adults, who might be hoping for a lovingly ironic approach in the tradition of “21 Jump Street.” It’s not for teens, who grew up with this stuff, and might enjoy seeing their childhood toys repurposed for a gritty reboot that flatters their maturing sensibilities. There is an audience for this movie, but this movie has no idea who that audience might be. And yet, for all of its surprising relevance, “Power Rangers” feels hopelessly lost in time. And while the program’s current iteration probably doesn’t politicize this point, there’s no denying the timeliness of a saga about a multi-racial squad of high schoolers who can only achieve their true power and transform into a giant robot (Megazord!!) by “putting down their masks” and working together to defeat an ancient evil.
Moviegoers old enough to buy their own ticket may not know this, but “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” - a kitschy, brilliantly resourceful kids TV series that debuted in 1993 by wrapping an original story about a fresh-faced team of American superheroes around the oodles of colorful, exaggeratedly dubbed battle footage that it borrowed from a popular Japanese show - is still on the air. But “Power Rangers,” which feels so distant from the zeitgeist that it seems like NASA should be forced to hold a press conference every time it comes into view, admittedly makes a certain amount of sense. And yes, the studios are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel, throwing money at anything that boasts even the faintest glimmer of brand recognition (the next few months alone will see big screen versions of “CHiPS,” “Ghost in the Shell,” and “Baywatch”). Yes, Hollywood is growing desperate for previously established properties it can exhume, refurbish, and sell back to the public as mega-budget franchises with international appeal. Yes, we live in an an infantilizing age of blockbuster cinema that sustains itself by selling people overpriced echoes of the songs they sang as kids. What’s weird is that someone spent $105 million on a “Power Rangers” movie in 2017, and then decided that it should open with a gag about a teenage boy inadvertently masturbating a bull. It really isn’t that weird that someone spent $105 million on a “ Power Rangers” movie in 2017.