3) A More Consistent Tone
Perhaps the biggest area that the new movie struggles with is finding a consistent tone for itself. It was always going to be tough to pitch this film exactly right – make it too gritty and it’s not Power Rangers anymore, but keep too much of the campiness and you’re in Batman & Robin territory.
What Power Rangers tries to do, then, is to have its cake and eat it, too. As we’ve said, the presentation of the five central characters and Zordon is far more mature than that of its parent series. On the other hand, Elizabeth Banks chews her way through the scenery as Rita Repulsa and feels much more of a piece with Mighty Morphin. Likewise, there are some really goofy moments of humour. Such as Jason’s introductory scene, where his friend “milks” a male bull’s “udder.”
With this difficult first try out of the way, we really hope that Dean Israelite and his team of writers will have learnt from what worked and what didn’t about this movie and find a more assured, consistent tone next time. Basically, keep the depth of the characters and the core outlandish fun of the Power Rangers but do away with the sharp swerves back to goofiness.
Published: Mar 26, 2017 05:59 pm