POWER RANGERS (Dean Israelite). 124 minutes. Opens Friday (March 24). See Listing. Rating: NN
Power Rangers is perhaps the truest adaptation of the 90s series imaginable.
Sure, the suits are shinier and the monsters digitized, but that’s about all that’s changed from the cheap and campy guilty pleasures of high school kids yelling “It’s Morphin time!” before drop-kicking monsters, rolling in their knockoff Voltron and battling knockoff kaijus.
Nobody involved cared to change a property that left infinite room for improvement, perhaps because that would merely have subjected it to comparisons to everything from Transformers to Godzilla.
Power Rangers opts for a more cynical and cost-effective redundancy, sticking to bad acting and a slapped-together script that goes through the familiar origin-story requirements: an accidental discovery, tinkering with powers, a training montage and team bonding, all of which fills the time until we hear, “Go! Go! Power Rangers!”
None of this deters Elizabeth Banks from enjoying her time as the villainous Rita Repulsa. She plays up all the kitsch in that name, mugging while gobbling up gold (it fuels her character) and mining a sweet bit of product placement for the most glorious gag.
