A good start, a muddled second-half and a rushed finale creates a mediocre superhero film. A quick disclaimer, I have never watched any of the Power Rangers TV series or films, so my knowledge of the franchise is limited and I don’t know how much the new movie sticks to the source material. As far as plot goes, it’s the standard superhero origin story. It’s kind of a mix of Spider-Man and Green Lantern. I enjoyed the first few character introductions, however, the rest of the Rangers seem to get added out of nowhere. This is still fun to watch, but a boring training montage and a few mildly interesting moments of character motivations and backstories slow everything down. The final battle seems rushed and the Rangers in costume feel disconnected from the characters out of costumes, at least when they have their masks on. The actors do a decent job. They add just enough nuance to keep from being too cliché. The standout character is the autistic Billy, aka the Blue Ranger. RJ Cyler makes him a unique voice in the superhero universe. The action is surprisingly weak and in capped off by a CGI vs CGI battle that would give the Transformers films a headache. The tone is a bit odd. It felt like they were aiming for a younger audience and went with a few too many silly moments. While the movie was rated PG-13, it felt like they were constantly dialing things back towards PG.
** out of *****