Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Masters of the Universe
Amazon MGM Studios
Directed by Travis Knight
Written by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee and Adam Nee
Starring Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Charlotte Riley, Kristen Wiig, Johannes Haukur Johannesson and Jon Xue Zhang
Rated PG-13
A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom.
Full disclosure, I am a child of the 80’s so not only did I spend multiple hours watching the original animated Masters of the Universe series when it aired, but I also went to see the live action film starring Dolph Lundgren with all of the disappointment that film inspired from me when it was released. So, when a new Masters of the Universe film was announced, I was skeptical but tried to enter this new movie with an open mind and an eye towards nostalgia.
The film begins on the planet Eternia and the production designers do a magnificent job of blending the worlds or sword and sorcery with futuristic technology. There is magic alongside robots, lasers and more in this world and everything feels like it belongs. Nothing feels particularly foreign and you buy into what you see on the screen.
When the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) attacks the palace searching for the power of Grayskull, the queen is forced to send the magic sword holding that power and her young son Adam to Earth to keep it from him. Leto does a great job as Skeletor. He finds the right balance between buffoon and sadistic menace with some moments played for laughs and others that show his cruelty and malevolent evil towards everyone around him. I like the vocal choice as well with the character delivering menace and comedy with a deadpan tone.
Nicholas Galitzine plays the adult Adam who has been living on Earth since he was a child and retains all of the memories he has of the world he once knew and is desperate to return to. There is a wonderful earnest quality to Galitzine as he navigates being Adam on Earth. Unfortunately, that same earnestness feels out of place and often annoying when he is finally returned to Eternia by Teela (Camila Mendes). There were moments when I was waiting for the character to embrace the gravity of his situation and he chose to play too many moments for laughs instead of emotion.
Mendes is great as Teela and shows a resilience that I was hoping to see with the character as she navigates being a member of an underground rebel group and trying to protect her father Duncan (Idris Elba), the former Master at Arms for the royal family who has fallen into alcoholism since the fall of Eternia to Skeletor’s forces. Alison Brie takes on the role of Evil-Lyn and both she and Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress feel under-utilized in their roles. Both actors have great presence, but I didn’t get a sense of that in the movie. Brie’s Evil-Lyn does have a couple of good lines and some looks that hint at something dark between her and Skeletor, but I was expecting more.
The action is visually exciting throughout the movie with some great chase and battle scenes. The story was often cheesy and goofy, but ultimately very fun to experience as a fan of the cheesy and often goofy original. I liked Adam’s journey in the film as he discovers that he has the power and what that means for him as the potential champion of Eternia and I like the way the world is set up both in look and feel with potential for more films in this franchise.
Masters of the Universe is in no way perfect, but it is fun. It’s a goofy, entertaining popcorn film filled with action, magic and enough heart to make you care about the characters and their world. It is definitely a niche film in who it is targeted at, but I think both fans of the original and those unfamiliar with the world of He-Man will find something entertaining, engaging and fun on the screen.
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