A few months ago, we were baffled — but also incredibly excited — that Elizabeth Banks would be playing Rita Repulsa, the classic, cackling villain of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in the upcoming movie. And now that we’ve gotten to see what she looks like, and… no. Not like this, Power Rangers movie.
Just revealed by People, Bank’s costume isn’t just completely far removed from Rita’s look in the original series (where she was played in Japanese-made footage by Machiko Soga, and voiced in the Power Rangers dub by Barbara Goodson)… it’s just a total mess.
“It’s definitely a modern and edgy re-imagining of the original Rita Repulsa,” Banks tells the website. Well, yeah, because it looks absolutely nothing like Rita Repulsa:
I’m not saying the costume needed to be directly lifted from the original show, but this is so radically different that it might as well be a new villain. I’m suddenly a lot more anxious about seeing this movie’s take on the classic Power Rangers suits, considering this level of drastic “edgy re-imagining”.
Power Rangers is due for release in the US on 24 March 2017.
Comments
34 responses to “Here Is Your First Horrifying Look At Elizabeth Banks As Power Rangers’ Rita Repulsa”
I think it’s ok, please don’t hate me
I’m with you, I think it looks fine.
But, but… Her hair isn’t a massive hat/crown/whatever the hell that is…
But she does give me the impression of a sorceress that has been locked inside a space bin for 10,000 years.
Same fam.
yeah, it looks fine to me, too.
Did anyone see the fan made Power Rangers thing with James Van Der Beek? Well it’s a thing!
All the cast in that looked like they knew how to shower.
*Looks at new Rita Repulsa, covers nose*
Well her surname IS Repulsa….
I wonder what the garden hose draped over her shoulder is for?
Are we really going to get up in arms about how Rita Repulsa looks? Honestly? This will be the nadir of pop culture fanboy/fangirl anger surely lol
*goes off to look up what “nadir” means*
Hollywood does this all the time. Why are people surprised?
In the age of countless remakes/reboots/regurgitations, any originality is good originality.
this will probably be another “related by name only” movie
To be honest I WONT be seeing this in theatres, having said that I will properly make some sort of effort to see it 6 months after and its out on dvd/pay tv. Just to compare it to my childhood memories.
I was nuts about Power Rangers as a kid, but my reaction to this is “ok”. Was anyone even that attached to Rita Repulsa’s character? 😛
Now Bulk and Skull on the other hand…
Kevin Smith & Jason Mewes
Excellent.
Oooooh good point, will Bulk and Skull make an appearance!
… How is this “edgy”? Apart from them apparently stealing what would have been the DC movie-verse look for Poison Ivy?
Because she looks like a fashion model who got pushed into the dirt? There’s grit, and she’ll probably be all sorts of angry and brooding about that.
But will they keep the most iconic characteristic of hers: her nail-on-chalkboard screechy/screamy voice?
That’s probably not “grim and edgy” enough.
Damn shame, too – I was excited when I first heard they cast Banks, because I thought “excellent pick, she’ll be fantastic having a field day going as over-the-top as she possibly can!” Don’t get me wrong, she’ll play Generic Hot Villainess or whatever just fine too; but so could anyone else.
Even me?
Well, I haven’t seen your headshot folio or ad-lib demo clip… so I’ll say “maybe”.
she looks more like a green scorpena (the other female villian from the original series who was hot as fuck) than rita
there is a difference between changing it completely and making it an edgy re imagining and improving the costume so it looks better in a big budget cinema movie.
Looks more like a green version of Scorpina – imo
so edgy and yet so unnecessary…looks fucking stupid.
stop with the reshashes/reboots.
it’s power rangers ffs. so much complaining for nothing the power rangers themselves changed many times over the different series. at this points its people whinging for the sake of whinging
I can’t wait to see what the Megazords look like.
Are you kidding me Kotaku? The might be a different person entirely because of the way they look? What a great perspective and assumption to promote.
If you’re freaking out that an “edgy re-imagining” of a Power Rangers villain is what will ruin the Power Rangers movie, you obviously have lower standards than I do. Power Rangers was bad when it was new. Even as a wide-eyed kid I could see how bad that show was.
A redesigned villain won’t make a bad thing bad; it’s simply going to be bad to begin with.
Should be fine as long as they don’t a stupid like the geniuses who produced the first Power Rangers movie saying we need to see their expressions and removed the eye lenses for pretty much most of the movie so you could see their expressions…
They had to basically retake a huge chunk of the movie again when they finally wised up and saw not only did it not work.. it made them all look stupid xD