As the quest for more IP to dig up and revamp for the modern age continues, we’ve now reached a point in the industry where nostalgia and memorabilia are being mined from the present rather than the distant past, as they have been for years. We live in a world where IP and familiarity are being curated for today’s generations, with recent mega successes like Backrooms as prime examples, so, in a way, Masters of the Universe is the type of IP management that’s being left by the wayside.
You’d expect a nostalgia reimagining of an almost foregone era to be a “been there done that” scenario across the board, but Masters of the Universe manages to be a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. Its issues are near obvious right when it starts from a slow and heavily expositional start, to occasional shoddy VFX work, and multiple instances of obnoxious try-hard humor, but Masters of the Universe still works on the whole because everyone making it is game to roll with the silly nature of its original material while balancing its core of what it means to truly be a man quite well. The flaws run deep within the overall strides of this newest adaptation, but it’s a perfectly adequate time at the movies that you can certainly do a lot worse than in terms of ‘80s nostalgia plays.
Plot Summary
The film begins with a thickly laid voiceover from Adam Glenn (Nicholas Galitzine) recounting his youth as a prince in the world of Eternia, where fantastical creatures of all shapes and sizes roam. At a young age on the planet, Adam was seen as the weakest amongst his peers during training with Man-At-Arms to the king Duncan (Idris Elba), much to the shame of his mother Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley) and especially his father King Randor (James Purefoy).
Eternia’s scales end up tipped, however, when their planet is raided by the evil army of Skeletor (Jared Leto), who is in search of The Sword of Power to bring his own dark power to god status. With his home and family under siege, Adam is transported to earth with the sword by its sole guardian, The Sorceress (Morena Baccarin). She tells him to keep the sword with him at all times and that when the time is right, he can use it to transport home, but on his way down to earth, he loses grip of the sword, and it falls into the unknown.
Now a grown adult, Adam lives life like every other regular human, living with his roommate and working an office job at the human resources department. While working away at his cubicle, he gets a message from someone claiming to have found his sword in a collectables store. Once he gets there and retrieves the sword, it isn’t long before Skeletor sends monsters after it. Once Adam finally retrieves it, his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes) reaches Earth to be at his aid and the two travel back to Eternia together. With the warriors of Eterina all in hiding, it’s now up to Adam to fulfill his destiny and use the power to free Eternia from the clutches of Skeletor and find his true self in the process.
Tone, Style & Comparisons
Many will make all sorts of comparisons to how Masters of the Universe is quite similar to other rises in franchises we’ve seen over the past few years, but the best way to describe it is as a cross between the awkward, silly humor of Taika Waititi’s Thor movies and the emotional catharsis of The Lego Movie. It takes a while for the film to click into its goofy, character-driven tone, but it is by far the roughest around the edges in its first half. The film often shows its hand, surrounding the obvious nature of He-Man’s arc that will go down throughout the course of the film, and the humor at play is greatly hit or miss. The campy self-aware nature at play is much preferred to it taking itself completely seriously, but the humor can often slide into the obnoxious nature that made Thor: Love and Thunder so grating to sit through, trying a bit too hard to proudly tout its goofy nature.
Masters of the Universe more often than not falls into the traps that many blockbusters are critiqued for going down, but when it eventually finds its footing as it goes on, it remains a solid time because of its willingness to be at one with the material it’s adapting. Director Travis Knight infuses his adaptation with enough bountiful characters and heart that make for a film that makes fun of its nonsense while never completely rejecting the wonder within it.
Visuals, Action & Direction
For all the occasional rough green screen backgrounds that surround the environments, it’s nice to have a blockbuster with more colorful infusion surrounding its look and a surprisingly creative route surrounding heightened visuals during fight scenes and shootouts, where Knight’s animation background clearly came in handy. Impact frames are lightly used, which gives He-Man’s transformation a particularly electric look, and the fights have the right amount of zany weight to them while fully utilizing the exhilarating presence of Daniel Pemberton’s rightfully rock-heavy score.
Themes, Character & Nicholas Galitzine
Adam’s characterization throughout the film is a prime example of never letting the wacky humor truly overshadow the movie’s tender heart. We come to learn from a young age and as an adult trying to save his planet, that Adam has always been a bit wimpier and bumbly than the legend surrounding him suggests to his allies in Eternia, often resorting to, in his words, having a dialogue rather than throwing hands first.
Even though Adam’s power lies in him becoming an ultra buff god, when he raises his sword high, he realizes he doesn’t have to change who he truly is as a man to succeed at what he does, which is the exact opposite of what he’s been told nearly all his life. The film’s commentary on the fragility of male egos and toxic masculinity isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but the themes provide an important core that surrounds the entire movie at its center and brings a decent amount of nuance to the meaning of finding yourself within. Nicholas Galitzine also completely nails the assignment as He-Man, bringing the right amount of ditzy, clumsy charm to the lead role.
Supporting Cast & Jared Leto’s Skeletor
The supporting performances are fine enough, with Mendes and Elba having a cute, albeit predictably basic father and daughter relationship as Duncan tries to regain his luster, but in a shocker, Skeletor often runs away with the entire movie, with a rare great performance from Jared Leto. It was honestly a wonder how they were going to implement the menace and goofy charms of the infamously memed antagonist, but they truly nail his sassy drama queen persona, as more often than not, scenes with only him and Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) are where the awkward humor and campy line reads are at their strongest. Skelotor is, without a doubt, the surprise highlight of the film, performance-wise, with even his look being translated surprisingly well to the live-action plane.
Final Verdict
Masters of the Universe might not have the full capabilities to utilize its power as its shaky start, struggles in tonal inflection, and insane runtime hamper its full potential, but the film as a whole is never a bad time, fully embracing its campy roots without sacrificing the firm message at its core, making for a deeply flawed but ok enough time at the movies.
Masters of the Universe will debut exclusively in theaters on June 5, 2026, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.
Masters of the Universe might be hampered by its shaky start, tonal struggles, and long runtime, but it’s never a bad time. It fully embraces its campy roots while delivering a firm message at its core, making for a deeply flawed but thoroughly enjoyable ‘80s nostalgia play.
Lover of film writing about film. Member of the Dallas Fort-Worth Critics Association. The more time passes, the more the medium of movies has become deeply intertwined with who I am.
