What happened to the Power Rangers? Short film gives grim, gritty answer.
A new 14-minute short produced by Adi Shankar takes viewers to a post-apocalyptic world where the Machine Empire has taken over and the old gang has been disbanded and disillusioned. While it鈥檚 definitely not for kids, adult fans seem to love it.
A new 14-minute short produced by Adi Shankar takes viewers to a post-apocalyptic world where the Machine Empire has taken over and the old gang has been disbanded and disillusioned. While it鈥檚 definitely not for kids, adult fans seem to love it.
What happens when a group of teenagers are trained to become soldiers and forced to fight in an intergalactic war they had nothing to do with?
Short answer: They get very messed up.
That鈥檚 the premise behind 鈥淧ower/Rangers,鈥� a short film by 鈥淒redd鈥� producer Adi Shankar and based on the popular 90s television series 鈥淢ighty Morphin Power Rangers.鈥�
The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world controlled by the robot alien villains known as the Machine Empire, and centers on former Red Ranger Rocky DeSantos, played by 鈥淒awson鈥檚 Creek鈥� star James Van Der Beek.
Rocky, who now works for the Empire, has captured former Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart (played by Katee Sackhoff of 鈥淏attlestar Galactica鈥�) as part of an effort to destroy the old team completely. The condensed plot reveals what happens to the rest of the team while getting in as much blood and violence as possible.
It has little to do with the kid-friendly original series, which featured costumed caperers and dinosaur robots 鈥� and that is exactly how director Joseph Kahn likes it.
In an interview with entertainment news site Hitfix, Mr. Kahn 鈥� the man behind such films as 鈥淭orque鈥� and music videos like Taylor Swift鈥檚 鈥淏lank Space鈥� 鈥� bemoaned the movie industry鈥檚 failure to produce 鈥渄ark鈥� and 鈥済ritty鈥� films in a way that would have any real impact.
鈥淪o when I did the dark and gritty version of this, I mean, we go full out,鈥� he told Hitfix. 鈥淭here's blood, there's brains, there's gunshots, there's sex, there's violence.鈥�
鈥淚 mean, basically we made the version that Hollywood could never ever make,鈥� he said.
For producer Adi Shankar, the film is more about making something he was genuinely interested in 鈥� pursuing an art 鈥� rather than pushing a backdoor pitch to a big franchise, he told innovation magazine Fast Company.
In fact, Mr. Shankar already has under his belt three bootleg and Internet-exclusive films based on copyrighted characters 鈥� 鈥淛udge Dredd: Superfiend,鈥� 鈥淭he Punisher: Dirty Laundry,鈥� and 鈥淰enom: Truth in Journalism.鈥�
According to Fast Company:
It only made sense to do one on the Power Rangers, a show he loved growing up, Shankar says in a video blog explaining his reasoning behind the short film.
鈥淧ower/Rangers, to the public鈥檚 nostalgic glee, is already making the rounds online.
The short film has also given audiences cause to think about the upcoming feature-length, live-action version of 鈥淢ighty Morphin Power Rangers鈥� that studio Lionsgate plans to release in the summer of 2016聽鈥� the latest in a series of Hollywood-backed reboots.聽
Will Shankar鈥檚 short film have any influence on the big-budget feature? Will other filmmakers attempt his devil-may-care style of making movies?
Who knows?
What we do know is that while 鈥淧ower/Rangers鈥� has been removed from Vimeo, the safe-for-work version can still be viewed on YouTube.聽