The Weekend Review: The Power Rangers Fan Film

In which I review a selection of last weekend's entertainment.

Almost as big as the controversy over what color the dress was this last week was what you thought of the gritty, R-rated Power Rangers fan film set in an apocalyptic future where the Machine Empire is cleaning up the last vestiges of Ranger resistance.  Some argued that it was the best thing to come from the franchise in years, while others lambasted it as another needlessly dark, Nolan-esque reboot of a happy-go-lucky 90's property.  My personal favorite response was easily:

Years after the Machine Empire conquered Earth, the Power Rangers are no more.  Disbanded, dead and lost - what few remain are either the last resistance against machine control or their human lackeys.  Rocky, the former Red Ranger, has detained Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, and revisits with her the fate that has befallen their former comrades while they wait for Tommy, the White Ranger, to rescue her.

What immediately struck me about this film - other than the a-characteristic, gritty aesthetic - was how it took the questionable, if well-meaning, morality of the series and made it its central premise.  The big question isn't so much "how will Kimberly escape this week," but "how could Zordon weaponize kids to fight a private war against a completely alien enemy?"  What happens when those kids grow up?  How do they cope with what they've done and reintegrate into society?  For many of them, it seems, they don't: crippling under the twin pressures of post-traumatic stress and human concerns of money and survival.

Although the direction and action is a little dodgy, the writing is pleasingly on-point.  It explores its themes in as much detail as its fourteen minute run-time would allow for.  They were even able to secure a few notable B-grade actors for the project - particularly Kaitee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek - that kept it from being completely amateurish on that front.  The film stretches its obviously thin budget to the breaking point in a few shots, but surprisingly succeeds on the whole at creating a visually well-realized world for its characters and story.

That being said, however, its conclusion hinges on a twist that doesn't entirely work.  Everything preceding it is great, but the realization of exactly who Kimberly was doesn't convincingly fit into the narrative that unfolded in front of us for the past ten or so minutes.  And, having watched this three times already, it still doesn't.  It fits into the theme of being used and manipulated by greater powers toward private and increasingly damaging ends - to be sure - but it doesn't actually gel with the rest of the story.  Although suitably realized theme can elevate the basest stories into art, it cannot supersede the needs of that story in doing so.

If the upcoming live-action Power Rangers film is even half as good as this semi-satirical fan film was, it's going to be worth seeing in theaters.  That being said, I would hope that a major cinematic production like it would be able to out-do a roughly-hewn film like this.  If you haven't seen it yet, check the film out here and see what everybody's been blowing up about for the better part of a week now.  As for myself...

Rating:  7.5/10

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