Change the way you think of a fan video – filmmaker Joseph Kahn (Torque, Dentention) has created an homage to the Power Rangers that’s on par the Christopher Nolan Batman films in terms of special effects, casting and dark subject matter. James Van der Beek (Dawson’s Creek) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) star in a new short film Power/Rangers, an action-packed, R-rated fifteen minutes that’s part superhero movie, part Tarantino.
If you need any further convincing, here’s a line for you: “The Machine Empire had better meth.” So begins the sometimes funny, sometimes dark, highly stylized story that follows the lives of the Power Rangers after the rise of the Machine Empire.
Kahn admits in the original video’s post that he made the film strictly for fun – it is by no means morphin’ canon:
…not a pilot, not a series, not for profit, strictly for exhibition. This is a bootleg experiment not affiliated or endorsed by Saban Entertainment or Lionsgate nor is it selling any product. I claim no rights to any of the characters (don’t send me any money, not kickstarted, this film is free).
Ah, rich man’s folly working to our benefit.
The NSFW Vimeo version of the film was yanked within hours of its release, but the safe for work YouTube video is still available for public consumption. With two features and music videos from every conceivable genre under his belt, it’s no wonder that Kahn knocks this out of the park.
This is yet another notch in the “weird projects James Van der Beek has chosen” belt post Dawson’s Creek, adding Kahn’s film to his resume after projects like Don’t Trust the B*** in Apartment 23, a memorable guest appearance on The Eric Andre Show and in the best .gif of all time:
Sackhoff was most recently seen in 2014 crime thriller Tell.
Thanks for being a fan, Kahn, and thanks for the best quarter hour we’ll all spend today. It’s a hell of an ending.
[h/t io9]
