Guilty Pleasures – Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie

Don’t judge me. Don’t you dare judge me! Back in the day, we were al fans of the Power Rangers. We had the TV series on SABC 2, those action figures which were just so damn big and Red Ranger pyjamas. And as a fan of that show which was essentially a reskinned Japanese effort but made more American, we got something even better in 1995.

We got a Power Rangers movie. And it freakin’ rocked! For all the wrong reasons.

Six teenagers Tommy, Kimberly, Adam, Billy, Rocky and Aisha have discovered the power to fight the forces of evil. A giant egg is unearthed in Angel Grove. Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa investigate the egg, and release the creature inside – Ivan Ooze, whom Zordon had trapped him inside the egg six thousand years ago.

Once released, Ooze left to seek revenge on Zordon. And now Zordon in his crystalline deathbed is dying because he has no power, without the power then Zordon of Eltar will never existed. Now the fate of the universe is in their hands. But this time the Power Rangers head for a distant planet to meet up with a bikini-clad warrior babe named Dulcea who imparts ancient wisdom and power. But now that they have their powers back and becomes Power Rangers once more they will now get back to business and defeat Ivan Ooze at all costs.

Look, if you’re going to make a movie about teenagers (With attitude!), running around fighting monsters and destroying cities in Godzilla-level battles on a weekly basis, then you’ve got throw logic out of the window here. Yes, it is absurd. Yes, it is crazy that these teens happen to always be dressed in very specific colours and it is absolutely insane that Rita Repulsa walks around in a bra stolen from Madonna. It’s insane that no matter what the situation is, the Power Rangers always have hand gestures to make for just such an occasion.

And holy hell, how they went from a bad guy who was essentially a skinless demigod to a villain whose main claim to fame was being locked up for making too many Ooze puns, is beyond me. The film is so damn stupid, it’s amazing. And it’s also ridiculously violent, when you think about.

Just look at the first major battle sequence, between the Rangers and some Ivan Ooze offspring that is fugly enough to justify the death penalty. Sure, the fight starts out with the usual one-sidedness and martial arts skills rivalling that of foetuses, but once the Rangers finally equip their snazzy uniforms? There’s enough violence there to create an entire trilogy of new SAW movies.

Just look at that! They kicked a guy so hard, he exploded. That’s Fist of the North Star territory there! And then when the little buggers try to surrender, they decided to squash them with masonry. That’s not heroism. That’s sadism!

And then of course, everything gets bad when their giant floaty head mentor guardian gets roughed up so bad, that the cast has to actually act for once in their life. From there, we get an alien planet, a warrior queen with less clothing on than Xena taking a shower, Ninjetti tactics taken from the American Ninja school of movie stealth and even BIGGER GIANT ROBOTS.

And that’s the other terrifying part of this film. Ivan Ooze plans to take over the universe with his own GIANT ROBOTS, but he needs them excavated. One brainwashed construction crew of parents later, and the deed is done. So what do you do with said zombie work-force? Pay ;em overtime? Hells to the no! Suicide for the lot of them. Once again, this movie be terrifying under the surface!

At least Paul Freeman clearly had a ball when playing the role of villain Ivan Ooze. It’s something that I love to see with good bad movies, when an actor knows that he may be in a crap film, but just doesn’t give a damn anyway and pulls out all the stops for the role. And when you look at that massive battle between the Zords and those other GIANT ROBOTS, it’s pretty laughable by the standards of today. But as a whole, it’s hard to hate this film. For it’s time, it was fantastic. It was the TV show on a larger scale, with some dope music and even better action sequences.

And attitude to spare.

Last Updated: March 27, 2013