Officially unveiled at New York Comic Con, the first trailer for the Power Rangers movie is here. And the results are… fine? I guess.
Remember that fan made ‘adult’ Power Rangers scene from a few years ago? With the incredibly over the top violence and mature themes. That one.
Well the whole point of that trailer was to show how dumb and inappropriate the concept of making every property grimdark was.
It was Power Rangers. A western remake of a Japanese show that mashed storylines out of masked fight scenes and awkwardly acted dialogue. With huge rubber monster suits. How could you possibly want that dark and gritty?
Except the internet collectively cheered the idea and now we’re here. A washed out, gritty Power Rangers film.
So now, Angel Grove appears to be host to a bunch of “weirdos and criminal”, and budding Red Ranger Jason seems to have some tragic mistake in his past motivating his character arc. After meeting all of the cast, they find a weird object that they collect some mysterious disks from.
After that, things get kind of better. There’s some goofy stuff going on about the kids being super buff, and able to do incredible feats. Plus the cheesy moment that they all get their powers from a glowing gas cloud is peak 90s kitsch.
As for the suits, they were never going to go for the classic Mighty Morphing Power Ranger design, and I’ve made my peace with that. As for what they have, it’s not the worst.
The colours are right at least.
The best part though, is Elizabeth Bank’s Rita Repulsa hovering over one of the kids and saying that she’s “killed Rangers before”.
She is clearly having a tonne of fun, so it’s easy to take the whole thing in a hammy, silly fashion.
This is especially prevalent when the metal style melody of the theme plays at the end.
There’s the potential for something that’s goofy and silly here, especially in contrast with the darkness of the opening conceit. If this movie just shows off it’s lighter side a little, it could be very fun watching.
Also show me Bulk and Skull.