Film Review: Masters Of The Universe
Witness How He Became He-Man
Introduction
This is a quick review of the newly released film Masters Of The Universe. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
Plot
Via Letterboxd: After being separated for fifteen years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan (Man-At-Arms), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe.
Review
The He-Man franchise will probably always be best remembered by the kids who grew up with it during its peak in the eighties, watching the cartoons and collecting the toys. As a nineties kid myself, my connection to the property is much more limited. I remember my mom buying my brother and I a few He-Man action figures, catching reruns of the old cartoon on Cartoon Network, and watching an episode here or there of the mid-2000s revival series. I also vaguely remember seeing the much-maligned 1987 live-action film starring Dolph Lundgren on television when I was a kid.
So while I’m familiar enough with He-Man, I can’t claim to have the same nostalgic attachment to the franchise that many older moviegoers and genre fans do. As such, I wasn’t exactly clamoring for Hollywood to take another crack at a live-action adaptation. Still, even with eighties nostalgia not selling quite like it used to and a Gen Z audience that largely didn’t grow up with He-Man now making up the biggest segment of moviegoers, we have arrived at another attempt with Masters Of The Universe
For whatever reason, my local market didn’t get press screenings for this one, so I ended up catching it on a Thursday evening at my local theater, almost immediately after seeing the other major new release of the weekend, Scary Movie. It made for a rather bizarre double feature. And my verdict of the film?
Well, Masters Of The Universe is hurt by some pacing issues and a screenplay that never quite figures out how to balance everything its trying to do well, but I still walked away having a pretty good time with it. This is the kind of movie that understands how inherently ridiculous parts of the He-Man universe are and, when it leans into that self-awareness, it can be genuinely funny. Not every joke lands, and there are stretches where the humor feels forced, but the best comedic moments come from the film embracing the silliness of the source material rather than trying to run from it.
Director Travis Knight continues to demonstrate a confident hand behind the camera. The action scenes are consistently entertaining, easy to follow, and deliver exactly the kind of crowd-pleasing spectacle a movie like this needs. Even when the story starts to drag, the action often provides enough momentum to keep things moving.
The film’s biggest asset, however, is undoubtedly Jared Leto as Skeletor. He absolutely understands the assignment and delivers the kind of performance that could have easily gone off the rails in lesser hands. Instead, he fully commits to the character’s theatrical nature while still making him feel like a legitimate threat. Every time he appears on screen, the movie gets a noticeable jolt of energy. It’s the sort of larger-than-life villain performance fans of this property have probably been hoping to see for years, and he ends up stealing nearly every scene he’s in.
I was also surprised by how much the score and soundtrack elevated the material. There are several moments where the music does a lot of heavy lifting, adding excitement and emotion to scenes that otherwise might not have landed as effectively. Combined with some strong visual ideas from Knight, the movie occasionally captures the grand fantasy-adventure feeling that has always made the He-Man mythology appealing.
Unfortunately, the film’s flaws are hard to ignore. At a little over two hours, it feels longer than it needs to be. The pacing is uneven throughout, with the movie struggling to maintain momentum between its larger action set pieces. There are stretches where it feels like the story is spinning its wheels, and tighter editing could have gone a long way toward improving the overall experience. The screenplay is ultimately the weak link here, never fully capitalizing on the potential of its characters or world-building.
The visual effects are another mixed bag. Skeletor himself looks terrific, but much of the remaining CGI ranges from merely serviceable to noticeably rough. It’s never bad enough to completely derail the movie, but there are multiple moments where the effects lack the polish you’d hope for in a blockbuster of this scale.
Still, despite its shortcomings, I found Masters Of The Universe to be a fun enough trip to the movies. It’s messy, overlong, and occasionally frustrating, but it also delivers entertaining action, some genuinely funny moments, a fantastic villain performance from Jared Leto, and a score that knows exactly what kind of epic fantasy adventure it’s trying to support.
There are absolutely going to be plenty of elementary-school-aged boys who walk out of this thinking it’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen in their lives. For everyone else, it’s a decent popcorn flick that never fully lives up to its potential but ultimately ends up being more enjoyable than disappointing.
“TL;DR”
Pros: Some decent direction from director Travis Knight; Entertaining action sequences; When humor lands it is great and very self-referential to the silliness of some of the He-Man lore; Jared Leto nails a home run as Skeletor; Standout musical score and soundtrack
Cons: Overlong; Pacing issues; Screenplay is lacking; Humor can come off forced more than a few times; CGI (sans Skeletor) isn’t the greatest
Grading
