MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Masters of the Universe revels in the childish fun and humour of a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon, bringing He-Man back to the big screen with a wink and a smile featuring a rockin’ musical score from Daniel Pemberton, a scene stealing turn from Jared Leto as Skeletor, and an abundance of heart and laughter that proves that Travis Knight’s adaptation has not only the power of Grayskull, but also its spirit.

“By the power of Grayskull… I have the power!” The iconic line that became part of popular culture history with Mattel’s Masters of the Universe, through its action figures, animated series and previous big screen adaptation starring Dolph Lundgren. However, since that film starring Lundgren in 1987, a second big screen adventure for He-Man has struggled to come to fruition. Over the years different actors and directors have been attached to the project, such as Noah Centineo and Kyle Allen each holding the starring role of He-Man for some time, in addition to directors such as Jeff Wadlow and Jon M. Chu being involved in the project. But it was not until the rights landed at Amazon MGM Studios that the right director was found to bring this film to life: Travis Knight. Retaining the camp and Saturday morning cartoon roots of He-Man’s television origins, Knight and his team have cracked the code in both bringing He-Man back to life for a new generation as well as giving longtime fans everything they want for his return. With a well casted Nicholas Galitzine picking up the Sword of Power and taking over the He-Man mantle, supported by a great supporting cast of Camila Mendes, Jared Leto, Alison Brie and Idris Elba, excellent below the line work to bring to life Eternia and yet another fantastic musical score from Daniel Pemberton, Masters of the Universe is unapologetically childish and wholeheartedly fun despite its narrative shortcomings and becomes a true summer blockbuster for audiences of all ages to enjoy.

From the second the film begins; audiences are immediately drawn into the magic of Eternia and what unfolds is everything you could want from a big studio summer blockbuster. With lots of big action set pieces, Knight and his team deliver that rousing action that audiences want from He-Man, relying on the strong fight choregeography to create lots of crowd pleasing moments that will no doubt generate cheers from the biggest Masters of the Universe fans such as Adam’s first transformation into He-Man at the top of the film’s second act. The swords and sandals adventure that unfolds features some intriguing world building that will tickle the fancy of any fantasy fan and requires no previous knowledge of He-Man, while the unwavering heart at the core of the screenplay and Adam’s hero journey to truly become Eternia’s saviour and take on the mantle of He-Man truly invests audiences in the film.

While incredibly cheesy at times, the dialogue never forgets that this franchise began its life on screen as a Saturday morning cartoon. With the insults spoken by Skeletor often reflecting that of a young child without the profanities to truly describe what they are thinking, Adam’s bumbling creating honest moments of self-embarrassment, and Evil-Lyn’s ego stroking reactions to Skeletor, the script is self-aware of how it silly comes across but never shies away from it. And that is where the film draws lots of its charm from, as it is not afraid to be unapologetically anything more than a goofy cartoon come to life. At the same time, it recognizes that those who grew up with the original cartoons have been greatly anticipating this film, throwing in some sexual related jokes, Adam’s insistence on using human resources confliction resolution to save Eternia that only adults will truly get the humour behind, and an exploration of alcoholism and depression, albeit a shallow one, trying to deliver a more mature blockbuster to appeal to older audiences. It's clear that Knight and his story team were trying to capture the same lightning in a bottle comedic stylings of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and while it never reaches the heights of those two Marvel films, their love for the property and its characters allows them to wear their heart and goofiness with pride resulting in delightful fun from start to finish.

As much fun as the screenplay is having with the world of He-Man, it’s also one of the film’s biggest flaws. There is nothing wrong with a simplistic adventure story with a generic hero’s origin tale, but the writing team over plays its hand in thinking there is more potential to squeeze out of this story than there is. With a runtime of one hundred and forty one minutes, the simplistic story is stretched far too thin and the lack of substance to the story begins to show, creating too many moments where the story’s pacing comes to a grinding halt. There is very little exploration of Adam’s narrative development from a scared young man into the powerful Hero with power of Grayskull, Skeletor never has any motivation or grander plans than being evil and finding the Power Sword, and despite Mendes’ kick ass in the attitude there is little depth to Teela. With a shorter runtime that would have moved more quickly from action set piece to set piece, these issues would have been less glaring, but with lots of dead space in the screenplay in the film that could have been trimmed without affecting the narrative being told, noticing the lack of substance to the film’s writing is unavoidable. There was easily a stronger cut of this film that was roughly thirty minutes shorter present in the film Knight assembled, that not only would have fixed the pacing issues, but would have appealed to the young children it is clearly aimed at that are meant to want to walk out of the theatre and beg their parents to buy them the action figures and Castle Grayskull playset.

Finding his inner power to become He-Man, Galitzine does a solid job picking up the Sword of Power. His physical transformation and ripped physique allows him to become He-Man to the eye, but the tender timidness he brings to Adam helps build the story’s heart. Using this timidness as his starting point, Galitzine grows Adam’s confidence, which lets him truly become He-Man in the film’s final act, despite having the power far earlier on, finding both a valiant heroism that is worthy of the character and an enjoyable presence to carry the film. As previously stated, Mendes oozes with strength and power as Teela, creating a young woman who never needs saving but is equally as powerful as Adam and able to not only fight her own battles, but save the film’s hero. The chemistry between her and Galitzine works best as a buddy duo taking names and knocking out Skeletor’s henchmen, whereas their romantic entanglement is purposefully held back by the screenplay and never reaches its true potential. Brie is wickedly fun as Evil-Lyn, leaning heavily into her comedic roots to bring a sinister campiness to Skeletor’s evil henchwoman, while also proving to be a formidable foe herself, while Elba does his best to elevate Duncan’s tragic fall from hero of the realm and haunting by his personal demons to create one of the film’s most compelling characters.

Though, the most surprising and arguably the best performance of the film comes from a completely unrecognizable Leto as Skeletor. With a line delivery matching the grandeur of the most cunning Shakespearean villain with the dialogue of a young child, Leto is wickedly entertaining as the iconic He-Man villain as he hams it up on screen and with ease matches the wacky tone Knight is aiming for. After years of painfully dull performances, it's a true shock that one of Leto’s best performances of his entire career is as Skeletor with the cheesiest dialogue you have ever heard and a performance equally so, but it's his restraint from going totally off the crazy deep end that makes Leto the standout of the film.

Coming to glorious life on the big screen, the majority of the film is magical to watch unfold. The production design boasts great set construction and decoration that brings to life the mythical wonders of Eternia, while the costuming finds the right balance between a swords and sandal adventurer and the cosmic stylings of Masters of the Universe. The practical effects, make-up design and prosthetics work together to bring to life the various creatures of Eternia and are impressive in creating both friends and foes that Adam encounters along his journey, while the visual effects work to aid these practical effects never misses to help make the fantastical become reality. When it comes to the larger world establishing shots of Eternia, the visual effects work shows its weaknesses with lots of soft shots that not only takes audiences out of the magic of the film, but never measure up to the impressive standard of the rest of the production. Though, it is Daniel Pemberton’s musical score that is the artistic highlight of the film. Featuring Queen’s Brian May as the electric guitar soloist, there is not a moment that Pemberton’s score does not roar to life and create an epic, rock infused, heroic soundscape for Adam’s journey that is unequivocally one of the most entertaining musical scores of the year to date.

Though it is not as mighty of an adaptation as He-Man himself, there is so much infectious fun to Masters of the Universe that it is nearly impossible to not have a big smile on your face while watching and reconnecting with your inner cartoon loving child. There is no question that director Travis Knight has an undying infinity for the Masters of the Universe world, as it shows in every frame of the film as his big screen adaptation delivers the exciting and entertaining film that fans have been waiting for decades four, despite his vision sometimes getting the better of itself and preventing it from being the great film the fans deserved. Even with a surface level story and runtime that long overstays its welcome and in desperate need of trimming, Masters of the Universe never falters in delivering an undeniably goofy yet heartfelt and fun cosmic adventure featuring strong performances from Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes and Jared Leto, impressive design elements and a heroic musical score from Daniel Pemberton, allowing this Saturday morning inspired big screen adaption to confidently wield the spirit of Grayskull.