Power Rangers

"When two empires declare war, neither side is innocent"

Thanks to the popularity this short film was receiving over the internet I decided to check it out despite never being a fan of the Power Rangers or knowing anything about the characters. I remember glancing at it a couple of times during my childhood, but it all seemed a bit too silly for my taste. My appreciation for this film is affected by my lack of knowledge about these characters because the short does require you have some background information about who these people are in order to understand what is going on. It is a fan film so the more you know about the series the better off you are. I still have to admit that I was entertained with the action sequences and some of the performances. I found the visuals pretty solid and its short running time does go by very quickly.

There has been a fascination in mainstream audiences for grittier and darker films and comics. We've seen it in several comic books that have turned away from the childish elements and focused on adult themes. In movies we've experienced it most recently with the Batman franchise and in the James Bonds films to name a few. We've shifted gears from the innocent and fun playfulness of those screenplays to much more serious and grittier ones. Joseph Kahn knows this all to well and so he decided to have fun with the beloved childhood characters by directing this dark version of the Power Rangers. It is a parody that is aimed to shock audiences who grew up loving these characters. The lead characters in this film are played by Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek who have an interesting verbal face off. She is playing Kimberly (Pink Ranger) and he is Rocky. We get some flashbacks as well of what has happened with the rest of the Rangers. Gichi Gamba gets a decent amount of screen time playing Zack (Black Ranger) and he gets the most interesting action sequences as he faces off some Japanese gangsters. There is also an interesting twist at the end of the film. Overall I found this an enjoyable short film with solid visuals and good performances, but I wasn't in to it as much because I really didn't know much about the characters.

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