Power Rangers Splits Critics and Life Is Fine

The TV series that started it all is frequently derided as low-budget cheese, but there’s no denying the Power Rangers franchise’s enduring — and lucrative — appeal. That continued viability brings our go-go multicolored heroes back to theaters this weekend for the reboot treatment, uniting a whole new cast around the ongoing struggle between the disembodied wizard Zordon (Bryan Cranston) and his witchy nemesis Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks). The results, perhaps unsurprisingly, strike most critics as entertaining enough, yet deeply inessential; caught between embracing its campy roots or giving the material an action-thriller overhaul, the new-look Saban’s Power Rangers never quite manages to justify its existence. If you’re a fan, you’ll probably still want to buy a ticket, and a sequel might be more or less inevitable, but those in search of a truly satisfying nostalgia rush are advised to look elsewhere.

It isn’t Life‘s fault that Alien will forever stand as the definitive claustrophobic space thriller — and if director Daniel Espinosa had gotten his hands on this script (written by Deadpool vets Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese) during that franchise’s long lull, there’s a chance the story might have seemed a bit more original. But with Alien: Covenant right around the corner, this sleek sci-fi adventure about an extraterrestrial organism discovered in space by a crew of ISS astronauts (including Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds) strikes a fair number of critics as uncomfortably familiar. Still, most scribes suggest that as long as you’re just out for a little B-movie fun this weekend, you should have a reasonably good time with Life — even if you’ll likely have forgotten most of it by the time that next Alien installment arrives in May.

Shots Fired tackles tough topics commendably — and remains consistently compelling despite an occasionally meandering plot.