Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe adaptation spends so much time apologizing for the silliness of the He-Man universe that it’s hard to take it seriously when it matters.
The Masters of the Universe franchise is a toy commercial, there’s no reason to dance around that. In a decision that made sense at the time but is hilarious in hindsight, Mattel turned down the original toy rights to Star Wars and then spent the late ’70s and early ’80s frantically struggling to claw back the action figure market share this decision cost them. The company produced several failed science-fiction and fantasy toy series before designer Roger Sweet tweaked a Big Jim action figure into the Conan-esque He-Man in 1981.
The initial run of the toy did well enough to justify a second, now bundled with comics expanding the series lore. When that did well, Mattel partnered with Filmation to produce the animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in 1983. This show was a massive success, becoming the most popular television series among children in the United States and the first toy adaptation to ever enter syndication. And now, 45 years later, we’re still talking about it. Not bad for a toy commercial.
The latest reboot in the series centers on Adam (Nicholas Galitzine), the crown prince of Eternia and heir to the mythical Sword of Power. As a child, his father King Randor (James Purefoy) was overthrown by Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his army of eclectic villains like Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) and Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson). To protect Adam, the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull (Morena Baccarin) sent him and the Sword of Power to Earth. The sword is Adam’s return ticket, but he loses it and thus loses his ability to return home.
Fifteen years later, Adam is now working in human resources. Those around him write-off his memories of Eternia as childhood trauma, but he still has hope. When he finally tracks down the Sword of Power, he’s reunited with his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), his mentor Duncan (Idris Elba), and other colorful allies on a quest to overthrow Skeletor and see him take his rightful place at Eternia’s throne. But after spending most of his life on a much softer world, he’s also finding out whether he’s cut out for combat.
Character flaws.
Photo Credit: Amazon MGM Studios
When Masters of the Universe works, it works incredibly well because they come from a place of deep love for the franchise. Director Travis Knight and film’s gaggle of six writers all clearly have love for the series. There are plenty of shoutouts to obscure characters and even a decent amount of love thrown towards the oft maligned 1987 live-action adaptation. Knight doesn’t downplay how conveniently playset-shaped many of the locales are and Daniel Pemberton‘s score is a breathtaking spectacle of synth and metal. It’s great that the film doesn’t bother toning down vehicles and locales from its older origins. The fight choreography is generally outstanding and at times a great asset to the film’s tone. Even better, the excellent character design nails the tone that the rest of the film should have settled on from the beginning.
Unfortunately, this enthusiasm starts to run out pretty early on. Worse, it’s replaced with a mewling insecurity that actively undermines everything good about the film. Masters of the Universe begins to repeatedly apologize for… being a Masters of the Universe movie? There’s a huge difference between leaning into the silliness of your source material and acting like your source material is stupid. Masters of the Universe often falls under the latter. This is most obvious when the film discusses characters. He-Man’s world features names like Fisto (because of his giant fist) and Ram Man (because he rams people). Yet the movie writes this off as the silly misremembering from Adam’s childhood, and the characters gasp when they discover these titles.
The job of a Masters of the Universe movie is not to point out that these characters are silly, but to make audiences care about these characters anyway. Nobody needs a reminder that a man made out of moss named Moss Man is silly. Of course he’s silly, his action figure was pine-scented! But the cartoons show that Moss Man can be formidable and compelling despite the silliness. The new Masters of the Universe instead opts for mockery, which doesn’t make the character any less silly but does make us wonder why we’re wasting our time with a movie that actively undermines faith in its own creative choices.
For example, the film features a longtime Masters of the Universe character named Mekaneck (because of his extending mechanical neck). At one point, Mekaneck uses his neck to crush a man not unlike a boa constrictor. Cool! Silly, sure. But cool. Then the film loses confidence, and suddenly this character that was immediately compelling upon introduction becomes a silly punchline. Even He-Man, the literal star of the film, gets an entire scene devoted to how stupid of a name He-Man is. If he’s so stupid, why are we watching him save the universe? Why did we even bother showing up for this movie?
A heartfelt He-Man.
Photo Credit: Amazon MGM Studios
It’s a shame that Galitzine can’t rise above this mess. The actor has shown a willingness to get weird in films like Bottoms and The Sheep Detectives and he really does shine when the film is at its best. Mendes is likewise excellent when the film allows her to be. Sadly, the stars are the most obvious victims when the film begins undermining itself. Only Elba and Brie manage to consistently come out on top, in large part because their characters being the more maligned members of their respective groups gives them an underdog status that is easy to root for.
And there are plenty of things that struggle for completely different reasons, like the increasingly inconsistent visual effects. Jared Leto’s Skeletor is dreadful, with the villain torn between Leto taking the role way too seriously, the script making him look goofy in all the wrong ways, and some botched motion capture. Worse, the film runs a good twenty minutes longer than it has any right to. But all of these would be manageable if the film didn’t spend so much time questioning its own existence.
Way back when the previous attempt at a He-Man film was canceled, I theorized that Mattel’s film adaptations would only succeed if they could manage earnestness. A world where Guardians of the Galaxy can become a serious box office draw and Everything Everywhere All at Once can win seven Oscars is a world where stories have no time to apologize for themselves. There’s always going to be something just as weird that doesn’t make you second guess whether it has a right to exist. Masters of the Universe does deliver earnestness, but only sometimes. When that earnestness is there, the characters are compelling, the action is exciting, and the stakes are significant. When it isn’t, the entire film is indiscernible from any other clichéd action flick that won’t last to the following summer.
The bottom line.
It’s been a long road to getting He-Man back to the big screen with directors like John Woo, John M. Chu, McG, and Jeff Wadlow all attached at varying stages since 2007. Now that it’s here, it’s hard to say it was worth the wait. In most ways, it at least manages to be an improvement over the 1987 film which, for budget reasons, took place almost entirely in the suburbs. But it also seems ashamed to be a Masters of the Universe film, and a franchise this storied and this beloved deserves better.
Masters of the Universe is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer below.
Photos courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Read more reviews by Brogan Luke Bouwhuis here.
REVIEW RATING
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Masters of the Universe - 5/10
5/10
Brogan Luke Bouwhuis is a writer and film programmer whose frequent pop culture deep dives have allowed him to write about everything from the Richard Gere gerbil rumor to the history of the holiday yule log video. He co-hosts the Franchise Fiends podcast, co-captains the narrative shorts program at the Slamdance Film Festival, and co-created three children with his wife, Jessica.
