It’s only a fortnight until audiences discover whether Lionsgate’s big screen Power Rangers reboot will be a hit or a hash. This fresh crop of Rangers, Dacre Montgomery (Red), Ludi Lin (Black), RJ Cyler (Blue) Naomi Scott (Pink) and Becky Gomez (Yellow), are currently on a worldwide press tour, with press screenings occurring as we speak. An embargo will probably mean we won’t get to hear too many full opinions until the studio wants us to, but we should begin to get a bit of buzz about how critics are reacting to the film in the next week or so.
In the meantime, the studio has released a fresh clip to whet our appetites, showing the Rangers getting… well, wet. First glimpsed in the trailer, the clip shows the five heroes treading water in a mysterious underground pool. They begin glowing their respective colors, before diving down to reveal the new Command Centre. The scene draws inspiration from the first episode of Power Rangers Zeo, echoing the moment the team discover their headquarters.
I’ve been a bit skeptical as to whether this reboot will end up being any good, but I’ve got to give credit to the witty way the script sidesteps the racially iffy ‘the black guy is the Black Ranger’ element of the classic show (not exactly helped by the Yellow Ranger being the only Asian-American member of the cast). The rest of it looks like potentially interesting stuff, featuring some impressively atmospheric underwater photography.
I’m still not entirely convinced that Power Rangers is going to be any good though – it looks like a coolly calculated bid to nab both the superhero and Transformers market and what we’ve seen of the script sounds a bit tin-eared – but we’ll find out for sure on March 24th, when the film opens nationwide.
