Making a movie based on Masters of the Universe is an incredibly difficult task. Based on a toy line that became a hit animated series, the world is a very unique, very weird blend of fantasy, 1980s action tropes, and characters clearly designed so you could play with them. It’s not built to be taken too seriously, but it also demands a certain reverence to make it seem epic, and it never loses sight of the fact that it’s self-aware and fun.
It sounds impossible to translate that into a film, but if anyone could do it, it’s director Travis Knight. The president of Laika achieved a similar task with one of the best Transformers movies, Bumblebee, and was keenly aware of the unique challenges of the story and setting going into Masters of the Universe. He aspired to make sure Masters of the Universe threaded a difficult needle: a movie that unabashedly loves this universe and its characters, but also makes it accessible to an audience who doesn’t. Something that’s exciting, emotional, and just campy enough. Unfortunately, he and the film mostly fail to hit that tiny bullseye of tone, resulting in a film that’s ambitious and beautiful, but ultimately a let down.
Here’s what we mean: after being forced to leave his home world of Eternia and spending his entire childhood on Earth, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) returns home. There, he sets out to defeat the person who sent his family into ruin, the evil villain Skeletor (Jared Leto), with help from his friend Teela (Camila Mendes) and others.
They’re in the middle of a battle. They’re losing. So Adam decides to embrace his destiny. He puts the legendary Sword of Power in the air and screams the most iconic line in the whole franchise: “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!” Adam then rises off the ground and begins his transformation into He-Man. The score swells, the effects dazzle, and the muscles bulge. “We’re saved,” says Teela, perfectly encompassing the awesome moment. If there was ever a moment to take seriously, this is it. Seconds later, something happens. He-Man screws up, and it quickly cuts back to Teela, who says, “We’re screwed.”
That pattern of ruining an exciting, epic moment with an ill-timed joke happens time and time again in Masters of the Universe. You almost won’t believe how, in seemingly every scene, attempts at humor always become the focus over anything else. And then how, more often than not, those attempts are simply not funny. Obviously, the jokes are meant to give playfulness to the scenes. A sense of levity. But it goes well beyond that, almost into the absurd.
There are also things throughout that don’t fit at all. For example, Idris Elba’s character is Duncan, the former Man-At-Arms for Adam’s family. He’s also Teela’s father, who trained them both as children. After being defeated by Skeletor, though, Duncan apparently fell on hard times. When we meet him again, he’s a full-blown alcoholic who Adam believes to be just some sad old vagrant living in a dungeon. But no, that man sleeping on the floor in his own filth is actually this crucial person in his life. The alcoholism comes back a few other times, too, in an attempt to humanize him and create tension with his daughter. However, it’s just too serious a topic for this movie and comes completely out of nowhere. It’s neither additive nor resonant. It just doesn’t fit.
Then there are jokes that you can’t believe didn’t get cut. Take the side characters Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) and Ram-Man (Jon Xue Zhang). These are two out of a long list of fun Masters of the Universe characters that populate the film. The script (which is credited to six people between the story and dialogue) makes a very smart decision to explain why they’ve each been given such ridiculous, toy-friendly names. It’s honestly kind of genius, and we won’t spoil it. But, instead of just taking the win, the film has those characters make multiple sexually charged jokes about fisting and ramming. It’s borderline uncomfortable.
This dance between cool characters, fun action scenes, and awkward humor and tone makes up the bulk of the film. But then, almost out of the blue, something changes. There’s a moment in the third act of Masters of the Universe where it’s almost as if a switch is flipped. You’re watching an interaction between He-Man and Skeletor that’s clearly ridiculous, but it somehow makes narrative sense, lands emotionally, builds character, and is also funny. That moment is then followed by some excellent action beats, which are punctuated by great, hilarious references to the original cartoons. Watching these final sequences, you can’t help but be like, “Wait, where was this the rest of the movie?” It’s wonderful, but it comes way too late to matter. Instead, it just makes the rest of the film look worse by comparison.
It’s such a shame because everyone involved in Masters of the Universe is clearly incredibly passionate about it. Galitzine is both a wonderful He-Man, with great presence and pathos, and an excellent Adam, whose goofiness makes us cheer for him. Actors like Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn and Kristen Wiig as the voice of Roboto are each having a lot of fun. Jared Leto’s Skeletor is exactly the villain you want him to be: smart and silly, but also scary and menacing. The score by Daniel Pemberton is awesome in every sense of the word, providing a nice balance of 1980s nostalgia with exciting, action energy. And, of course, the costumes and sets look like you stepped into your TV screen and lived in this world. They’re fantastic.
In fact, the movie is so confident it’s done everything right, it gives us not one, not two, but three end credits teases about what the future will hold. We’ll see how that works out. Because while Masters of the Universe definitely isn’t a good movie, it’s more disappointing than anything else. It’s got all the right intentions and a few memorable moments, but it’s mostly frustrating and awkward.
Masters of the Universe opens on June 5.
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