This love letter to the Power Rangers firmly identifies director Greg Rudzinski as a child of the '90s, and is a case of pure wish fulfilment, the director living out his childhood fantasies by turning himself into a power-suited hero and saviour of the planet. Greg plays Jason Oliver, who comes into possession of Unit Green, an A.I. mechanism that has the power to transform the holder into a Super Task Force warrior. The evil Emperor Zagel desperately wants the unit so that he can put into operation his powerful robot Project Rapture, and Jason must do battle to ensure the freedom and safety of Earth.
This is only the second film I have seen by Rudzinski (the other being CarousHELL), but it is my favourite by far (despite me being an avid horror fan). I prefer it because it is good-natured, and because it doesn't try too hard to be funny (the comedy in CarousHELL wasn't the greatest). Super Task Force One is technically rough around the edges, the lack of budget obvious, but Rudzinski's fondness for all things Power Rangers shines through in every scene. He has a lot of fun sending up the show's many tropes, which are obvious even for someone like me who has never sat through an entire episode of the '90s show, and it's actually surprisingly entertaining.
In many ways, the cheapness of the whole thing actually works in its favour, the original show not exactly boasting great production values. Rudzinski clearly has to improvise to realise his ambition (and mounting a very low-budget recreation of Power Ranger is most definitely ambitious!) so expect the following: a badly painted motorcycle helmet, homemade weapon props, poorly choreographed martial arts, rubber masks, off-the-shelf After Effects explosions, and unconvincing giant CGI robots that do battle in an entirely digital environment.
After this, I feel like I'm warming to Rudzinski's film-making style (although I'm not sure if I'm ready for A Meowy Christmas just yet).
This is only the second film I have seen by Rudzinski (the other being CarousHELL), but it is my favourite by far (despite me being an avid horror fan). I prefer it because it is good-natured, and because it doesn't try too hard to be funny (the comedy in CarousHELL wasn't the greatest). Super Task Force One is technically rough around the edges, the lack of budget obvious, but Rudzinski's fondness for all things Power Rangers shines through in every scene. He has a lot of fun sending up the show's many tropes, which are obvious even for someone like me who has never sat through an entire episode of the '90s show, and it's actually surprisingly entertaining.
In many ways, the cheapness of the whole thing actually works in its favour, the original show not exactly boasting great production values. Rudzinski clearly has to improvise to realise his ambition (and mounting a very low-budget recreation of Power Ranger is most definitely ambitious!) so expect the following: a badly painted motorcycle helmet, homemade weapon props, poorly choreographed martial arts, rubber masks, off-the-shelf After Effects explosions, and unconvincing giant CGI robots that do battle in an entirely digital environment.
After this, I feel like I'm warming to Rudzinski's film-making style (although I'm not sure if I'm ready for A Meowy Christmas just yet).
