Repulsa Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit

February 24, 2015 8:04 AM

POWER/RANGERS (NSFW), a short "de-boot FAN FILM" from director Joseph Kahn. Featuring Katee Sackhoff as Kimberly/Pink Ranger and James Van Der Beek as Rocky.

In an interview with HitFix's Drew McWeeny, Kahn discusses the short and what it says about Hollywood's relationships with intellectual property, merchandising, and the "dark and gritty" trend:

It's not just Lionsgate but all of Hollywood, they all keep toying around with this 'dark and gritty' concept, and they're all PG-13. I mean…. look at the gunshots. You have a guy going in there shooting a bunch of people and it's just like puffs of smoke. There's no repercussions to these gunshots, which to me is even more dangerous than when you actually show some blood. You're teaching kids that you can shoot a gun and there's no repercussions to it. It just looks like you fall down. So when I did the dark and gritty version of this, I mean, we go full out. There's blood, there's brains, there's gunshots, there's sex, there's violence. I mean, basically we made the version that Hollywood could never ever make. If I had to watch the 'dark and gritty' reboot, then this is the way I would want it. This is the version I would personally want to see, but I also know this is the version that could never, ever be made in Hollywood. They would be crazy, it would be financially irresponsible, but this is what I personally would like to see out of a Power Rangers film.

posted by zombieflanders (40 comments total)

This thing is just perfect. Were there any justice in this world, this would be the final nail in the coffin for grimdark reboots.

Alternate SFW version on YouTube
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:13 AM on February 24, 2015

Thoroughly entertaining.
posted by oddman at 8:23 AM on February 24, 2015

No dark and gritty reboot of the Power Rangers could be either as dark or as gritty as real life.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:28 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

If you like this, be sure to look up the director Joseph Kahn's film Detention.
posted by rabbitroom at 8:31 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Kahn is also the director of Detention (prev. on MeFi), which is one of the better cult horror comedies of the last few years.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:32 AM on February 24, 2015

As a short film cynical parody, this works. I could not be less interested in it as a longform, though.
posted by taterpie at 8:38 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

The director says pretty much the same thing, taterpie.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:44 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

That is brilliant.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:52 AM on February 24, 2015

In my head I just created a whole season of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 plots for James about him being in a gritty Power Rangers reboot. For that, I sincerely thank you.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:53 AM on February 24, 2015 [8 favorites]

OMG. And now I'm sad about Apartment 23 again.
posted by kmz at 8:58 AM on February 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

What the hell is a "deboot"?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:05 AM on February 24, 2015

I confess: I know very little about the Power Rangers (in fact, I had to consult Wikipedia while watching this), but it was a lot of fun. I like it when Van Der Beek plays jerky and evil. (And is that awesome gif set of reactions by him still online somewhere? I can't find it.)
posted by Kitteh at 9:16 AM on February 24, 2015

I know very little about the Power Rangers...

Same here, but it was great I didn't need to know a lot in order to grok the short.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:20 AM on February 24, 2015

Love the Thule roof rack coffin at about 9:06. That was so obviously out of place...weird to see that in what was otherwise a very expensively produced short.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:04 AM on February 24, 2015

I like it when Van Der Beek plays jerky and evil.

He was very good in Rules of Attraction as Patrick Bateman's younger brother.
posted by cazoo at 10:16 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I watched the first 2 minutes at work, realised how long it was so left it for home, and now its gone. Gone!
posted by biffa at 10:20 AM on February 24, 2015

The video has been taken down from Vimeo. Was the NSFW version posted anywhere else?
posted by zarq at 10:32 AM on February 24, 2015

How bizarre. I just finished it and now its gone.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:39 AM on February 24, 2015

He just said Fuck in the version on Youtube so is that the NSFW version?
posted by biffa at 10:42 AM on February 24, 2015

I started a fanfare about Detention.
posted by RobotHero at 10:50 AM on February 24, 2015

Does anyone know why the original version posted by the director to Vimeo is now gone? The censored (no nudity) version on YouTube is still up.
posted by trackofalljades at 10:53 AM on February 24, 2015

Per reddit: "The two naked chicks in bed with Zack are Amia Moretti (Left) and Bree Olsen (Right)." Who are apparently porn stars. They are clothed in the YouTube version.

Don't know if there are any other differences between the two videos. Since it's Power Rangers, I naively thought the NSFW was there to signal 'more gore and violence' not nudity.
posted by zarq at 11:03 AM on February 24, 2015

Here's producer Adi Shankar talking about the genesis of this film that almost involved Orlando Bloom. Possibly. Not safe for work due to profanity. Bonus for lots of eye make up and leather jacket.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 11:08 AM on February 24, 2015

God damn it. I was about to post this. So good. Also I'd like to Nth the Detention endorsement.
posted by brundlefly at 11:39 AM on February 24, 2015

Where's the dubstep tag?
posted by brundlefly at 11:43 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

That was incredibly silly (in a good way). I hope the person who made this gets to make more and bigger things and not just music videos and such.
posted by sparkletone at 11:52 AM on February 24, 2015

Where's the dubstep tag?

Ha! Great minds think alike. I put it under the "obligatorydubstepcredits" tag when I posted it.

It sucks that someone took down the Vimeo version (and apparently Kahn's entire Vimeo page), but hopefully it's a minor issue and not some stupid DMCA ridiculousness.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:59 AM on February 24, 2015

Does anyone know why the original version posted by the director to Vimeo is now gone? The censored (no nudity) version on YouTube is still up.

DMCA takedown.
posted by Mothlight at 12:10 PM on February 24, 2015

That was incredibly silly (in a good way). I hope the person who made this gets to make more and bigger things and not just music videos and such.

Torque.
Detention.
posted by Mothlight at 12:16 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm still able to get the uncensored version to play in the embed on Kahn's Twitter page. That may just be dumb luck, or maybe it may work for some of you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:21 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Yeah, you can get to it this way as well for now.
posted by garius at 12:23 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

And this link seem to go directly to the mp4 file for the 1080p uncensored Vimeo version. (TinyURL just points to extended direct link number hash, but works for me.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:25 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Also, for those with Netflix streaming (at least in the US), you can add Detention to your queue.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:30 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Got the twitter version of NSFW to work but how how how to get it to download? There's no Vimeo code to copy to load into my downloader off the embedded video.
posted by Ber at 1:22 PM on February 24, 2015

Firefox, Download Helper AddOn.
posted by zarq at 1:45 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Much karma sent to Zarq
posted by Ber at 1:53 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Apparently, the link I posted above had an expiring token on it. This one is newer and should work for a while.

For now, that will take you directly to the 1080p mp4 file. Then just choose "Save as" from any browser, no addons needed.

All I am doing to get these, btw, is clicking on the embedded video on Kahn's Twitter page. Then, in Chrome, right click on the video and choose "View Frame Source." Search for "mp4" and you'll find the direct links for the various resolutions. You can then copy and paste those into a browser.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:54 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

"One weird trick for downloading Vimeo files"
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:02 PM on February 24, 2015

One weird trick for downloading Vimeo files

That is weird, because when I click on the embedded video on Kahn's Twitter page, I just get the Vimeo-standard woodsy cartoon picture and a message reading, "Sorry This video does not exist." Frame source yields the same text, but no MP4 link. (Wonder if it's different based on which region/servers you're accessing.) However, your link two messages up worked fine for me so, hey, now I can tell The Man to suck it. (And by The Man I mean Saban, which Kahn is saying via Twitter is behind the takedown.)
posted by Mothlight at 2:13 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Huh, well shot action scenes in an action movie... it's been a while. I don't necessarily want to see the feature length film, but I do want to see another feature length by Kahn. I hope this gets enough traction so he can write his ticket again.
posted by codacorolla at 7:08 PM on February 25, 2015