Really, it comes down to the costume. No way could someone make a serious Masters of the Universe movie in the 21st century, and also have its fumbling hero transform into a muscle-bound hunk wearing a metal harness and a very short skirt. So director Travis Knight and the screenwriters behind Amazon MGM Studios’ big-budget adaptation of the beloved ’80s franchise kept the costume and decided to have some fun with He-Man. Sometimes at He-Man’s expense. The resulting film, starring Nicholas Galitzine as the aforementioned hunk, is silly, strange, and more than a little camp — not just parodying the original animated series, but the very idea of trying to translate it into a movie.
Fortunately, nearly everyone involved with the production is on the same page, dozens of tongues held firmly in cheek as an extended introduction explains how young Adam (Galitzine as an adult, Artie Wilkinson-Hunt as a boy) was sent from his home planet of Eternia to safe haven. It’s an extended introduction, revealing a lot about the pressure the prince faced as a kid to avoid any sign of weakness, before the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) invades the kingdom and brings darkness to the land.
Exiled to Earth, Adam grows up with no doubt in his mind as to who he is and where he comes from — unfortunately, once he’s reached adulthood and begun living a mundane office worker life, no one believes his stories about his childhood, especially his roommate (a hilariously deadpan Christian Vunipola). Adam’s boss (Sasheer Zamata) even calls him out for his obsession with locating the Sword of Power, which Adam lost hold of during the trip between planets. (He was a kid then! These things happen.)
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At least Adam’s pretty good at his job as a human resources consultant. Unfortunately, being skilled at conflict resolution isn’t all that helpful for what happens next: Adam does find the sword — as merch in a comic book shop, naturally — but then has to contend with a giant beast man trying to kill him. (The character is literally named Beast Man.)
Thankfully, Adam’s childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes) arrives in time to not just help him fight off the giant beast man named Beast Man, but return back to Eternia. After 15 years, home looks a lot different to Adam, as Skeletor hasn’t been the most generous or giving of rulers. But enough of his father’s best soldiers remain to try to take back control — and when Adam finally unlocks the powers that give him his action figure physique and strength, it becomes more than a fair fight.
There’s a deadpan approach to some of the movie’s most outlandish elements that works more often than not, provided He-Man isn’t something you hold sacred. This franchise has always felt like a little boy mashed all his favorite things together and called it a story: Robots and swords and magic and talking tigers and a scary villain with a skull for a face. Knight’s take leans hard into that, even coming up with a vaguely rational explanation for using some of the silliest character names, including Mekaneck and Ram-Man and Fisto.
Masters of the Universe (Amazon MGM Studios)
Masters of the Universe does maintain a level of sexlessness on par with shows you’d watch as a kid on weekday afternoons, though there are some jokes that may whiz right over most kids’ heads. Otherwise, kids will be wondering why their parents are giggling over the line “Give them head, Ram-Man!” Skeletor also tosses off a reference to the “big long sword” dangling between Adam’s “glorious thighs,” because seriously, when this movie decides to be campy, it really goes for it. (Happy Pride Month, y’all.)
The story does make an occasional effort to take elements of Adam’s journey seriously, though these instances are often low points creatively, including one later scene that’s meant to be emotional, but instead just plays flat and cliched. Those moments aren’t Galitzine’s fault, as he overall shows a refreshing lack of ego when it comes to playing up Adam’s goofiest qualities, even when he gets his powers in full. From playing an aloof gay prince of England in Red, White, and Royal Blue to a squirrelly journalist in The Sheep Detectives to He-Man, he’s gotten to show off a remarkable range of talents for an actor at this stage of his career. May he always choose to take the weirdest swing possible.
Idris Elba, meanwhile, goes on quite the journey as Duncan (aka Man-at-Arms), Adam’s one-time mentor who didn’t take his failure to save Eternia from Skeletor all that well — it’s a character arc that allows Elba to get a little messy, making his recovery all the more satisfying. Also, whoever thought of casting Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn deserves a freaking Peabody Award — she doesn’t just understand the assignment, she glories in it, riding the sadomasochistic edge of her relationship with Skeletor. Masters of the Universe makes it explicitly clear that Evil-Lyn and Skeletor are villains through and through; sometimes, a bad guy is just a bad guy.
Masters of the Universe (Amazon MGM Studios)
Speaking of the bad guys: The degree of effects work involved in bringing a live-action Skeletor to the screen on this level makes it a little difficult to gage just how much of this performance is truly driven by Jared Leto — it’s hard to feel any sign of him beneath the CGI face and over-the-top voice performance. That said, that talking skull looks pretty impressive in the moment, and to be completely honest about it, Leto’s way more engaging here than he is in Tron: Ares. A movie in which he’s supposed to be the protagonist.
Beyond the heavy-hitters in the cast, there are some fun discoveries, like stuntwoman Christiaan Bettridge — whose resume includes doubling Gal Gadot on three separate films — getting to play a snarky soldier who bullied Adam when they were kids. (She takes a lot of pride in this accomplishment.) That stunts background gets put to serious use during one of many battle scenes, which combine all of the wild cartoony elements, laser blasters and the like, for some solid action sequences that don’t shy away from Masters’ animated origins.
Most of the movie features its characters interacting with real sets, utilizing as much practical effects work as possible — however, there are a few instances where the CGI doesn’t really hold up, particularly the appearances by Adam’s childhood friend, the giant talking tiger Cringer. It’s not that one wants a giant talking tiger to look real, but he’s not well-integrated into the live action. Beyond that issue, Cringer is a delight, a reluctant king for the ages.
The Easter eggs are numerous, including multiple post-credits sequences, one major cameo, and a needle drop which nods to Slackcircus’s classic viral video “Fabulous Secret Powers.” There are some other fun musical moments: An easy way to describe much of the He-Man aesthetic is “heavy metal album cover,” something Daniel Pemberton’s score embraces with glee, enhanced by Brian May of Queen’s electrifying guitar solos. The Darkness also provides an end credits track that, in a nod to the great tradition of classic end credits songs, is entitled “Masters of the Universe” and sounds like it was mixed in 1983, screaming vocals and all.
Throughout Masters of the Universe, Adam is known only as Adam, with the name “He-Man” being revealed only as a joke towards the end. It’s silly, yes, but given the choice between a silly take on this material and a grounded one, the silly version feels far preferable. If nothing else, the film is doing its best to have fun. The way playing with one’s toys should feel.
Masters of the Universe brings the power of Grayskull to theaters starting Friday, June 5th. Check out the latest trailer below.