Interest

Check Out Joseph Kahn and Adi Shankar's Incredible Power/Rangers Short Film While You Still Can

Lots of folks probably have nostalgic memories of the Power Rangers, whether it's the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from the 90s or one of the many Power Rangers iterations that have been filmed over the past couple of decades. Whatever it may be, though, one doesn't easily forget the time they've spent watching the masked heroes and their fight for justice.

That's why it's so cool to see a darker, grittier take on the Power Rangers. Producer Adi Shankar and director Joseph Kahn have created a 14-minute short film called Power/Rangers (starring Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek), which has already received over 8.5 million hits on Youtube alone. It's a "bootleg" take on the classic sentai superheroes, only it answers a vital question—how would all the battles really affect high school fighters?

In his "Why Bootleg the Power Rangers," Shankar says, "They're gonna straight up have f****** PTSD." He also mentions that because of their lives as "child soldiers," they probably didn't get into good colleges, having spent all their time "judo-chopping and spin-kicking monsters," derailing the rest of their lives.

If you need another reason to watch it ASAP, though, it appears that Kahn might be running into some legal battles with Haim Saban, who own the rights to the franchise. Kahn's copy of the video on Vimeo has already been taken down, although the film is still up on Youtube.

For some more insight on Power/Rangers, here's Shankar's accompanying video on why he chose to tackle the project.

[Additional info via Deadline]