LOS ANGELES, United States (Reuters) — It was time to “Go Go Power Rangers” in Hollywood as the latest reboot of the franchise held its world premiere in Westwood, Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 22).
The film, aptly titled “Power Rangers,” is being released internationally by Hollywood studio Lionsgate and brings together the red, blue, pink, yellow and black rangers from the long-running television show.
“Obviously, ‘Power Rangers’ has been very established for a very long time, but what I like to say is we’re not here to replace anyone,” explained the Yellow Ranger actress Becky G. “Although the names sound familiar, it is the first time you’re meeting our characters and there’s so many layers to them and so much depth to the stories. We don’t become Power Rangers in the first ten minutes, you know.”
Ludi Lin, who plays the Black Ranger, added, “It’s like an instruction manual of how you become a Power Ranger because you go through the kids’ journey from kids, these inadequate insecure little kids and how they become superheroes.”
The film follows the five characters, a Latino misfit, a loner, a school bully, an intellectual and a drop-out, as they are transformed into the colorfully suited action heroes.
Red Ranger actor Dacre Montgomery said of the outfit: “It’s a tight suit, physically to wear. It’s very tight but it’s amazing. You feel every membrane and every muscle feels like it’s stronger but it’s not. I think that’s the illusion we give to people but we almost feel ourselves. It’s the stepping into the escapism that you step in to in a cinema but in a suit. It’s strange, it’s an interesting thing.”
Lin also felt like it empowered him, saying, “After you put on that mask you feel like, you kind of feel like you want to get out and save a burning school bus full of kids, you know.”
The Rangers’ mission in the film, as in the television series, is to stop the camp villain Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). At the center of the story (and at the center of the branding boards at the premiere) is doughnut maker Krispy Kreme, which has a pivotal part in the film.
Dean Israelite, who directed the film, admitted: “To be honest, we always wanted that very key plot point to be buried somewhere that felt completely relatable and irreverent and to a degree goofy so it had to be something that existed in the real world. We’re always going to get knocked for the product placement of it, but I think there’s something weirdly fantastic about how germane it is to the movie and the brand.”
“Power Rangers” will go on release in the United States on March 24.
