It’s been 9 years since the Power Rangers reboot hit theaters, and even all these years later, the film still inspires discourse over why it didn’t land like many were hoping it would. The film seemed to have everything going for it, and as recently detailed by one of the film’s stars, there were ambitious plans for the future of the franchise. That revelation has inspired debate about the film and why it didn’t succeed at the box office, and while franchise fans are still hurt by the reboot’s failure, they also know why it flopped.
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There have been a lot of discussions regarding the Power Rangers reboot, but this thread from @BlackMajikMan90 is a perfect distillation of the discussion. The post lists a number of factors that the film had going for it, including a reasonable budget ($100 million), a favorable release date, good trailers, and its delivery of a cool update for modern audiences. Despite those elements, the film didn’t hit at the box office, and the toyline didn’t sell particularly well. That post got a conversation going that brought a number of issues people had with the film to light, but there is one key reason the film didn’t resonate, and it comes down to the Rangers actually getting to be Rangers for a decent length of time.
The Power Rangers Reboot Had One Key Major Flaw
The Power Rangers reboot might not have been the massive box office hit the studio and the fans were hoping for, but it still did a lot right. That includes how it actually created five compelling and evolving characters to base the franchise around, and bringing those characters to life was a top-tier cast. That said, @heyphilsummers highlights the biggest key issue, writing, “Maybe it’s because they were only fully suited Power Rangers for 45 seconds. I’m not even joking.”
Now, fully suited means that the helmets fully cover the actors’ faces, as they are in the actual suits for longer than 45 seconds. That said, the overall point still stands, and it’s the biggest flaw of the film. It is also pointed out that the arc of the movie is the characters earning their Ranger status and the ability to morph, and that is true and worked quite well. Still, the balance is clearly off in terms of how much time we spend turning them into Rangers and how much time they actually get to be Rangers.
I pointed out in a previous breakdown of what the film got right that the suited-up Ranger battle is awesome. The problem is that it cuts off right as it really gets going, and then quickly segues into a Zord sequence, which then moves into the final battle against Goldar, which has its own issues. The Zords sequence against a horde of Putties is still quite fun to watch, but the film clearly still needs more of the Rangers battling outside of the Zords. There’s also that great sequence where Jason saves his dad and gets out of his Zord to fight some Putties on the way to the burning truck, but it’s also rather short, and just goes to show how much more of this we needed in the film overall.
As for the aforementioned Goldar battle, to be clear, Goldar’s design just did not work, and what should have been an epic final battle was only half of one because watching a giant figure of gold wax without any sort of character of persnality to it just isn’t all that thrilling. I thought the Megazord portion held its own, but every time Goldar is on screen, you are just thinking of how this could have been so much better with a more interesting character or monster design, and it was certainly not worth taking such extensive screen time away from what did work, which was the Rangers themselves.
I don’t feel it’s overreaching to say that many would have traded that fight for more time with the fully powered-up Rangers getting to throw down. There’s also the random Krispy Kreme product placement, and while it was handled with a comedic wink and a nod, it still couldn’t help but take you out of the story and what was happening.
Here’s the thing. Outside of not enough time as Rangers, Goldar’s design, and Krispy Kremes, much of the other criticisms are simply too subjective to count as fails, and even in this particular thread, you’ll find disagreements about what worked and what didn’t. The more alien-styled aesthetics of the costumes and the Megazord come up quite a bit, but personally, I loved the suits, and while I still prefer the original Megazord design, I didn’t dislike the one in the film. The same goes for the Zords, which I thought suited the more alien-leaning costumes and overall design of the film.
The Putties were also mentioned, but they were far more menacing and imposing than the more comedic Putties in the original show, which are fun but don’t offer any real threat or intensity to a battle. Then there are critiques of the angst or dedication of time to the Rangers before they morph, and while I agree that the time devoted to the non-Ranger stuff is off as a whole, I’ll forever stand on the fact that the definition of the characters outside of just being Rangers is one of the best parts of the film, and why it’s so disappointing that we didn’t get more films featuring those characters and that amazing cast. Also, regarding angst, watch a season of Mighty Morphin and you will get tons of that, just through a ’90s filter.
There’s also a discussion about release dates, and truth be told, March of 2017 was a stacked month. Logan was released on March 3rd, and then Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast was released on March 17th. Power Rangers was then released on March 24th, and Fate of the Furious would then hit a few weeks later on April 14th. Power Rangers was right in between major blockbusters, and while it did have some time to itself for a minute, both Logan and Beauty and the Beast were major hits at the box office for weeks, so it’s not like they didn’t have competition still.
While no one can say for certain, if you had half a movie of building up the characters and the villain and then half a movie that included an unmorphed fight, an epic morphed fight, and then a throwdown with the Zords and Megazord to close it out, I think it would have been received better. Not sure if it would have been four movies franchise better, but still far better.
You can watch the Power Rangers 2017 Reboot for yourself right now through Howdy or Lionsgate+.
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