The new “Power Rangers” movie directed by Dean Israelite had high expectations but didn’t necessarily live up to the hype as it should have. Casting some big screen newcomers such as Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, and Ludi Lin can sometimes be a big risk for blockbusters that may not pay off.

  The story takes place in the small town of Angel Grove, California. Five young teens end up stumbling upon some magic crystals that ultimately give them incredible strength and reflexes. They are tasked with defeating the evil Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), whose plan is to create a monster–known as Goldar–to retrieve a Zeo Crystal which has the power to destroy entire worlds.

  While this movie was popular in the box office, critics had opposite emotions toward the movie. The poor sense of timing in this film was shown by the most precise plot points like the Rangers mechs called Zords or Morphing, which is the process of the Rangers getting into their armor, never appeared until it was way too late. Most of the film continued that way. It was also very confusing, since the movie skipped around, never really having a main focus on the rangers themselves. After the intro, the movie completely missed its mark and showed scenes that were completely irrelevant to the plot.

   Pink Ranger/Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott) is revealed to be gay when she is talking to all of the other rangers at a bonfire, making her the first LGBTQ+ superhero in a major motion picture.

  Blue Ranger/Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler) is revealed to be autistic very early in the movie in a scene with Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery) at a mine and also not reacting to certain kinds of emotions in the ways that the others do. These small details may inspire other plot details like it in other movies.

  With most movies, there are big stars to head up the big roles, but in the case of the Power Rangers, the potential bigger players such as Bill Hader, who voices Alpha 5, and Erica Cerra, who plays Trini’s mother, had a smaller part to play. The both have a significantly larger list of movies than the five main characters.

   As a whole, the movie lived up to the action detailed in the trailers but fell short in executing the full story. However, it was a fine addition to the Power Rangers franchise and may inspire sequels in the future.