Power/Rangers Short Film Reaction

I want to do a quick reaction post to the gritty Power Ranger short film, that’s has been blowing up my Facebook news feed, as of late. Let’s be honest, I was a huge Mighty Morphin Power Ranger geek when I was a kid. I had this “life-size” stuffed White Ranger doll, which I would beat up. The 1995 Power Ranger movie was the best movie ever made, from the perceptive of my ten year old self. After that movie I had every toy relating to the Power Ranger, including a morpher. As you can tell, the Power Ranger was a big part of my childhood. 

When a Power Rangers reboot was announced back in 2014, my ten year old self got really excited. There has been little news surrounding this movie. A few months back Roberto Orci left the project because of Star Trek scheduling issues, which may set back its summer 2016 release date. I don’t have high hopes for this film in general, because it’s the Power Rangers, and I don’t think the 90’s martial arts campiness would work today. The film would need a major overhaul for it to work today.  

A Youtuber named Adi Shanker post a video title Power/Rangers. This video is a fan made film, by Joseph Kahn. The film’s primary stars are Katee Sachhoff (Battlestar Galactica) as Kimberly/Pink Ranger, and James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) as Rocky. This film’s running time is just shy of 12 minutes, in that time it delivers a grittier Power Ranger world set in the future. I think the darker and grittier tone this Power Rangers short film brought us was good. If the filmmakers from the reboot, presumably coming out in 2016, takes some plays from this film’s playbook, then it could turn out as a good movie. I personally wished they would have gone without the dub-step music during the fight scenes. I felt that it was a bit distracting. I’m kind of surprised they didn't get Jason David Frank to reprise his role as Tommy, that guy is jumping at every chance to suit up as the Green Ranger again. Overall this short film was fairly enjoyable.