POWER RANGERS (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)
Release Date: June 27, 2016
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Video: 2.40:1 1080p Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Enhanced For Late-Night Listening)
THE RATINGS
The Movie Itself - ★ ★ ★ ✰ ✰
Video Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Audio Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Special Features - ★ ★ ★ ✰ ✰
Overall - ★ ★ ★ ★ ✰
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THE FILM ITSELF Our Reviewer's Take
It's Sophomorphin' Time.
It's Sophomorphin' Time.
Reviewed by Gavin King
Power Rangers has "teenage dominance" written all over it. Granted, not every action film can always be a serious, gritty, and brooding Zack Snyder fest, but this one just seems too hyperbolic, teenager-wise, for its own good. That doesn't make Power Rangers a bad movie. It just wants to appeal to its main demographic, the adolescent audience, rather than appealing to a nationwide majority. It's also a film that seems to aim for those who grew up with the Mighty Morphin' saga back in its golden days, though it wants to gear for the former, the teen audience. But that doesn't mean this film is one big pubsecent angst-a-thon. It's got big action set pieces, an action-friendly score, and bombastic visual effects. The film is something of a confused identity, stuck with the decision on whether it wants to be a relatable teen adventure or a big-budgeted actioner, but it baseline satisfies with its generally strong performances and rollicking action.
Five teens - Jason Scott (Darce Montgomery), Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott), Zack (Ludi Lin), and Trini (Becky G) - come across an old gold mine that was blown up by Billy. It reveals five Power Coins, which each of them take but are caught by security but escape safely. The next day, each of the kids discover something special. They have unique powers that amaze themselves and their fellow classmates at school. The kids then return to the mine; this time, they all discover an ancient spaceship. There, they meet the robot Alpha-5 (voiced by Bill Hader) and the conciousness of Zordon (Bryan Cranston) inside the Morphing Grid. Zordon tells them that they are all now the Power Rangers and gives them some information about Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), a former Power Ranger who betrayed the team to control the Zeo Crystal. Now these new Power Rangers must harness their abilities to take out the dastardly plans of Rita before the city of Angel Grove is destroyed forever.
The movie takes itself a bit too seriously, despite its aformentioned dominance on teenage angst. There's little humor other than a few opening sequences introducing the kids and a few little bits with Bill Hader's Alpha-5. The movie could have benefited from being more light on its feet, not falling into the easily vulnerable trap that is the dimness of most action junctures nowadays. Sure it's Power Rangers, and sure the instantly recognizable theme is there amidst the movie's action, but at the end of the day it's still expositionary routine. Yet much of the same can be granted to similar films of this sort of genre. They're not exactly breeding grounds for airy flair and humor and are more focused on building to the action-oriented storyline via exposition and big build-up scenes, and Power Rangers isn't an exception to the rule.
Yeah, there's a good amount of teenage angst, but it's not hugely constant. The film thrives on a fairly continuous sense of the way teenagers this age precieve things. It can sometimes be fun (the action scenes), sometimes a little much (the bathroom scene with Kimberly). If anything, it's nice enough that the cast knows the characteristics of being a teen, if they were that way or not (probably the former). The performances aren't Oscar-winning, but they're more than adequate, with the best of the teen performances being RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston, who brings out an appreciable sense of social anxiety to his character. Sure he'll fit in well with his fellow Power Rangers, but he's also looking for a few true friends, too. Elizabeth Banks makes for a welcome Rita Repulsa, maybe not the first choice for the role but she knows what she's doing and realizes the Power Rangers essence. Bill Hader's voice performance as the robot Alpha-5 is appreciated, as well, nothing too huge considering his constant work in voice performances in animation and live action alike but nevertheless giving the robot character a nice addition into the Power Rangers universe.
Even through the film's flaws, the good generally seeps along the bad. The film is a technical success, with an endless cacophony of visual (and aural) effects that bring color and light to the Power Rangers universe, even through the serious dimness of the film that's really become routine. Action sequences are fun, loud, well-coreographed... it's stuff we've come to expect from years and years of modernized action cinema, but it's well-done stuff, too, again maybe taking itself a little too seriously but not necessarily at the expense of thrilling joy and entertainment. It's B-movie popcorn fluff, nothing more, nothing less, and should satisfy harcore Rangerholics and leave general audiences with the idea that there was effort put into the final product.
Five teens, one destiny.
Five teens - Jason Scott (Darce Montgomery), Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott), Zack (Ludi Lin), and Trini (Becky G) - come across an old gold mine that was blown up by Billy. It reveals five Power Coins, which each of them take but are caught by security but escape safely. The next day, each of the kids discover something special. They have unique powers that amaze themselves and their fellow classmates at school. The kids then return to the mine; this time, they all discover an ancient spaceship. There, they meet the robot Alpha-5 (voiced by Bill Hader) and the conciousness of Zordon (Bryan Cranston) inside the Morphing Grid. Zordon tells them that they are all now the Power Rangers and gives them some information about Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), a former Power Ranger who betrayed the team to control the Zeo Crystal. Now these new Power Rangers must harness their abilities to take out the dastardly plans of Rita before the city of Angel Grove is destroyed forever.
The movie takes itself a bit too seriously, despite its aformentioned dominance on teenage angst. There's little humor other than a few opening sequences introducing the kids and a few little bits with Bill Hader's Alpha-5. The movie could have benefited from being more light on its feet, not falling into the easily vulnerable trap that is the dimness of most action junctures nowadays. Sure it's Power Rangers, and sure the instantly recognizable theme is there amidst the movie's action, but at the end of the day it's still expositionary routine. Yet much of the same can be granted to similar films of this sort of genre. They're not exactly breeding grounds for airy flair and humor and are more focused on building to the action-oriented storyline via exposition and big build-up scenes, and Power Rangers isn't an exception to the rule.
So you guys are the Power Rangers?
Yeah, there's a good amount of teenage angst, but it's not hugely constant. The film thrives on a fairly continuous sense of the way teenagers this age precieve things. It can sometimes be fun (the action scenes), sometimes a little much (the bathroom scene with Kimberly). If anything, it's nice enough that the cast knows the characteristics of being a teen, if they were that way or not (probably the former). The performances aren't Oscar-winning, but they're more than adequate, with the best of the teen performances being RJ Cyler as Billy Cranston, who brings out an appreciable sense of social anxiety to his character. Sure he'll fit in well with his fellow Power Rangers, but he's also looking for a few true friends, too. Elizabeth Banks makes for a welcome Rita Repulsa, maybe not the first choice for the role but she knows what she's doing and realizes the Power Rangers essence. Bill Hader's voice performance as the robot Alpha-5 is appreciated, as well, nothing too huge considering his constant work in voice performances in animation and live action alike but nevertheless giving the robot character a nice addition into the Power Rangers universe.
Even through the film's flaws, the good generally seeps along the bad. The film is a technical success, with an endless cacophony of visual (and aural) effects that bring color and light to the Power Rangers universe, even through the serious dimness of the film that's really become routine. Action sequences are fun, loud, well-coreographed... it's stuff we've come to expect from years and years of modernized action cinema, but it's well-done stuff, too, again maybe taking itself a little too seriously but not necessarily at the expense of thrilling joy and entertainment. It's B-movie popcorn fluff, nothing more, nothing less, and should satisfy harcore Rangerholics and leave general audiences with the idea that there was effort put into the final product.
POWER RANGERS Blu-ray - Video Quality
Power Rangers morphs out on Blu-ray with a typically high-end 1080p transfer. The movie was shot digitally with Red Epic cameras, a very slick, glossy type of digital camera in this reviewer's opinion, but the image retains an abundant amount of fine-point detail. Scuffs and marks on Ranger suits, rocky terrain in the cave, and the interior of an abandoned spaceship are clean and sharp, perhaps not to the point of becoming reference material but still delivering that trademark sharpness that comes with digitally-shot feature films. The film's color palette sort of dims the level of fine detail, as the film goes for darker and more muted shades (especially in the cave and spaceship), but we're still left with pinpoint sharpness to enjoy. The iconic Ranger armor is well-saturated in color - the Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink, and even Black - as are the bright visual effects in the film's titular final act. The encode's undoubted strength is its incredible depth of field, with sprawling vistas of the gold mine the kids go to, as well as a few other wide shots involving other sorts of nature. The image sees stable black levels in most every scene (save for a couple shots which go ever-so-mildly pasty) and serious compression artifacts were not spotted. All told, Power Rangers makes for a solid video presentation on Blu-ray. It may not bring much new to the table, but it certainly meets any and all expectations.
POWER RANGERS Blu-ray - Audio Quality
Power Rangers features a truly amazing Dolby Atmos soundtrack, probably one of the finest listens I've heard on my surround sound system. The track makes consistent use of the surround channels in most every scene. During the opening scene where Scott escapes the cops, as the camera pans in a circle, the speakers correspond to the location the camera is placed at. For example, as the camera pans to the back of the car, we can hear Scott's voice in the surrounds. It's an almost startling surround element and it's only a sign of what amazing power the track has to come soon. An explosion around the 19-minute-mark pulses with a healthy bass accompaniment and supportive surround structure. As the kids reveal their colors underwater, the sound of water gurgling fully envelops the stage. The ending battle with Rita Repulsa is a particularly impressive cacophony of endlessly detailed action sound effects that puts the LFE channel in great effect and pulls the viewer right into battle with the Rangers. There's some astounding stuff here. Atmospherics are extraordinarily well-implemented; seagulls on a pier, pouring rain, nighttime crickets by the mine, and a school hallway completely immerse the listener into the film's locations. No matter what the environment, what the time, the multichannel track brings fully-detailed life to each interior and exterior location. Music is nicely-placed too, with tight bass and full stage involvement, no matter what genre. Even through all this constant enveloping, dialouge never once falls short and stays perfectly audible and crisp throughout. This is demo-worthy material, and it's one that audiophiles shouldn't be shy to introduce to their home theater sound systems.
POWER RANGERS Blu-ray - Special Features
- Audio Commentary with Director Dean Isrealite and Writer John Gatins Director Dean Isrealite and writer John Gatins discuss various production elements, aspects about the original show compared to this film, locations, and more. They leave a handful of silent spots but deliver a track that fans should enjoy.
- The Power of the Present is a nine-part supplement that's pretty in-depth, exploring the original Power Rangers origin, cast interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, and much, much more. The parts include Rangers Then to Now, Building the Team, Beyond the Rangers, Suiting Up, Rangers Welcome to Training, Rangers in the Wild, It's Morphin' Time, Power Ballad: Music and Sound, and This Is Your Destiny.
- Deleted / Alternate / Extended Scenes include Kimberly Dropped at School, Jason & Dad Fight in Kitchen, Swing the Shell, Stole a Cow & Invaded Police / Longer Spectrum, Where to Drill Cop, Were You Serious About Running Away?, Who Stole The Van?, Kim Doesn't Know Trini's Name, Creepy Cave Walk, Good Talk / In the Bucky Ball, I'm Sam Scott This is My Boat, Crazy How Someone Stole the Van, Let's Go Train, Tommy - Kimberly Cameo, You Don't Need a Locker, Rita Licks Trini, The Kiss, and Kid Touches Megazord. Whew!
- Outtakes Funny moments from the cast and crew.
- Theatrical Trailer (with Audio Commentary by Dean Isrealite)
POWER RANGERS Blu-ray - Overall Recommendation
Power Rangers is a mixed bag. It doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be - an angsty teen flick or a breakneck action movie - but it satisfies with is fun final act, strong visual effects, and good cast performances. It's flawed, to be sure - a bit on the angsty side (as I keep mentioning), falls into slightly derivative routine, could boast a more breezy tone - but, on the positive side of things, this is popcorn fluff with a capital F, by no means going to win any big movie awards but gives fans of the franchise what they want and leaving the non-converted with a satisfied look on their faces. Lionsgate's Blu-ray delivers most of the goods; a hugely effective Dolby Atmos soundtrack, top-shelf 1080p video quality, and a good allotment of supplements, bolstered by a 2 hour and 20 minute long feature. Recommended.
I will add extra screenshots later. Thank You!
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