Top 10 Things We Want To See In A Power Rangers Movie

The Zords and costumes may be awesome, but it’s hard to imagine the classic Rangers without their signature weapons, which are individual to each member and thematically connected to their Zords. From Billy’s Power Lance toKimberly’s Power bow to Zack’s Power axe, to Trini’s Power Daggers these weapons are a fun addition to the Ranger arsenal used to add new flavor to fight scenes. They could even combine into the mighty Power Blaster. Only Jason gets to use his signature weapon in the movie, and we say the other Rangers deserve to get in on the action, especially if a sequel adds new, deadlier enemies.

The first movie did an okay job of laying out the basics of the 2017 version of the Power Rangers mythos, and now that the groundwork’s been laid, the franchise is free to further expand on the Ranger mythology. Future films could go deeper into what the Rangers are, their origins, and answer all kind of interesting questions. Are there other Ranger teams protecting other planets, like the Alien Rangers? What role does the Zeo Crystal play in the grand scheme of things? There’s plenty of fertile ground out there for future stories and scenarios, as well as plenty of interesting world building.

Around the same time that we learned that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren’t real, we learned that our favorite cartoons and TV shows existed to sell us things. Power Rangers is no exception, engineered mostly to sell re-branded Japanese toys in the US. Fans have made their peace with this, but it can get a little bit hard to ignore the product placement when it’s quite so blatant as the Zeo Crystal being buried under a Krispy Kreme donut shop inthe new film. Even ancient evil supervillains needs a donut or two once in a while, but this is just too much.

Ensemble pieces can be a tricky thing to get right, especially if you’re introducing every member of the cast for the first time. A two hour movie doesn’t give much time to elaborate on backstory and character when your cast is on the large side, after all. There’s a way to pull it off that balances screentime among the cast, but the 2017 Power Rangers film fumbles a bit in this department, with people feeling like the Black and Yellow Rangers got the short end of the stick. One of the first items on a sequel’s to-do list should be to address giving Zack and Trini more screen time.

We get it: Kanye West’s song, “Power,” shares a word with the title of the movie. As far as music choices go, it’s a little on the nose, but we wouldn’t mind so much if the song felt a bit better suited to the movie. Power Rangers has ahistory of epic musical scores, with the classic series scored to guitar-squealing perfection by the great Ron Wasserman. A future Power Rangers movie should go the extra mile by making more of the music suit the action, either by finding songs that better fit the scene or putting more focus on the original score.

For starry-eyed kids in the 1990s, no “Power Rangers” episode was complete without the epic Megazord combination sequence. After all, what’s cooler than seeing a group of robot dinosaurs transform and combine into a giant robot? The movie, on the other hand, makes the unfortunate mistake of glossing over this sequence and, obscuring the Zords combination. Given the design of the new Zords, it’s hard to imagine how they’d combine mechanically, and the film doesn’t give us much of an answer to that burning question. A sequel should definitely find a way to make it work, delivering a combination sequence that’s fun and interesting to watch.

Rita Repulsa may have been the first baddie that the Rangers had to face, but after the first season of the original series, she was joined by a figure who would become an even greater thorn in the team’s side: the evil Lord Zedd. With a frightening visage, a legion of powered-up Putties and the titanic Zord Serpentera, Lord Zedd is a threat like no other. Even years later, he remains the most iconic Power Rangers villain in the series history. If the sequel is going to up the stakes and give the team an even greater threat to overcome, look no further than this crimson baddie.

From the most iconic Ranger villain to the most iconic Ranger, the movie already teased the presence of the team’s sixth member, the Green Ranger - Tommy Oliver. Of course Tommy wouldn’t necessarily have to be male in this version, as some fans would like to see a female Green Ranger to balance the team’s gender split. Either way, seeing this series-spanning Ranger take his or her place on the new team would be a welcome sight for Ranger fans, especially if the awesome Dragonzord makes an appearance as well.

We get wanting to play it coy, but let’s be honest: just one fully transformed fight sequence, with the Rangers sporting their newly updated iconic costumes just isn’t enough for us! While the scene in the 2017 movie is certainly fun, we slapped down our hard-earned dollars for some high-flying, color-coded Ranger action, and we want more than what we got. The actors themselves aren’t short on charisma, and can certainly hold a fight scene as well as anyone, but it just isn’t a Power Rangers movie without fully morphed Rangers going toe to toe with the Putty Patrol and other villains whenever possible.

And speaking of fight scenes, we do need more than just: punching monsters till they fall. The TV series had a unique and interesting fight style with high flying acrobatics, sparks flying everywhere and over the top finishers. Sure it looked cheesy, but it helped make the series stand out to become one of the biggest shows in the 1990s. Plus if you look at other Hollywood films, the more memorable action scenes are those with a unique style: The Matrix with bullet time, The Bourne series with Shaky Cam, and more recently: Kingsman with the tracking camera. We’re not saying Power Rangers should copy those film's style, what we’re saying is: give your fight sequences their own iconic identity.