Legend of the White Dragon will be released in theaters on August 28.
Let’s get one thing straight up front: Legend of the White Dragon is not a Power Rangers movie.
Yes, for those of my generation that grew up watching Power Rangers, it does include plenty of familiar faces, putting the late Jason David Frank (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) as well as Jason Faunt (Time Force) and Ciara Hanna (Megaforce) front and center in what is a clear nostalgia play to draw in fans of the original shows. There are even moments in the movie where, if you really squint hard enough, it can almost look and feel like a more adult version of a Power Rangers show… not in the way that the largely forgotten 2017 movie did, but in how the visual effects are often quite shaky and there’s a big ol’ heaping of earnest cheesiness poured over it. It all makes this Kickstarter-funded project play more like a YouTube fan film than a standalone work, but there can be a charm to such an endeavor, and there is something admirable in the abstract about a group of people coming together to make a movie like this.
Unfortunately, while there remains plenty of actual charm in the shows this movie’s cast became known for, that’s utterly lacking in the execution here as the entire thing comes apart with shocking speed. Even as it was able to create its own thing, Legend of the White Dragon feels like a sequel weighed down by a whole series of movies that nobody in the audience has actually seen. There are flashbacks on top of flashbacks, pages of stilted dialogue in one belabored exposition scene after another, and woefully stiff fight sequences that never leave much of a mark. While a movie like this doesn’t need to be as thrilling and kinetic as the recent action stunner, The Furious, it’s still tough going when it can’t actually land a believable punch. More closely resembling the works of Neil Breen — the ultra-low-budget filmmaker known for Double Down, Fateful Findings, and Twisted Pair — but with some more money to throw at things, it’s occasionally unintentionally funny, though mostly a drag.
Our hero-turned-pariah is Erik Reed (Frank); he is believed by many to be, if not in hiding, dead following what characters refer to as “Dark Day,” which is essentially a battle he took part in that killed 1,263 innocent people. Don’t worry about remembering any of this: Everything, including this exact number, will get repeated over and over as the movie spends far too long arranging and rearranging deck chairs before it feels like it’s actually even properly starting. Though we’re informed Erik was more of a treasure hunter than a superhero — leading to the hilarious line, “he left behind his most precious treasures, his wife and child” — he’ll soon have to step up and become one when he gets hunted down by those looking to take him in or get revenge. It’s all shallow and broad with a simulacrum of a complex and engaging central superhero character. Sure, he has abilities that come from a crystal which make him so powerful that he can fly into the sky, but while the story builds to him being unleashed to do so, the actual movie surrounding him doesn’t come remotely close to taking flight.
It’s at the secluded boxing ring where Erik has been hiding, which comes complete with old newspaper clippings taped on the wall that outline what we’ve already been told has happened, where we get our first fight. What could have been a goofy brawl, with fighters leaping through the air like wrestlers and smashing concrete blocks on heads, doesn’t actually cut loose. For one thing, the smashing of the concrete block comes down on a motorcycle helmet clearly meant to hide a stunt performer, leaving no sense of actual impact. Even more disappointing, the shaky camera work further obscures the stunts rather than letting us see the choreography clearly. Fight sequences not only can but should be a dance, with camera and performer working together; in Legend of the White Dragon, each proves to have two left feet, never once feeling in sync with the other as it all just shuffles along.
The longer this drags on, the more this ostensibly stand-alone movie just feels like it was conceived to bring together the cast without any thought about what that would actually look like. Once the first already clunky action scene comes to a close, there are large stretches where the film just spins its wheels, leaning heavily on the recurring presence of King Bach as a hologram to explain what’s going on. This may sound on paper like it could be a bit silly or even fun, but there’s no playfulness here. No matter how much the cast is all game, the atrocious dialogue and general lack of movement makes it a scattered slog. Even with brief moments where the actors bounce off each other in some more potentially fun ways, it always falls back to flashbacks which bring everything to a screeching halt, or bits with a one-note villain who can’t create a truly menacing presence.
When the final big confrontation and forced tease for a sequel arrives, you’re left wondering how a movie less than 90 minutes long can feel like it’s pushing two hours. Fans of the cast might still just be glad to spend time with their favorite actors, but both they and the performers deserve better than the slapped-together final film we get here. Despite all the legacies it’s gesturing toward and the memorable ensemble it showcases, Legend of the White Dragon is nothing more than a forgettable misfire and miles away from legendary.
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