It’s hard watching Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe have an identity crisis in real time. It’s perfectly happy to give us fantastical vistas of Eternia and characters ripped straight out of the toy packaging but makes Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) sheepishly apologize for the supposedly unfortunate name of Eternia’s legendary sword that holds power—the Sword of Power. “Yeah, that’s what they went with,” he says, with an embarrassed eyeroll like it isn’t the most awesome thing you’ve ever heard in your life.
Which is strange, considering Travis Knight made Bumblebee, arguably one of the better live-action Transformers movies, so it’s frustrating how low he aims here. I’d expect this bathos slop from Taika Waititi, but Knight?
Still, it’s a fun enough ride. From the team of Chris Butler, Aaron and Adam Nee, and Dave Callaham comes the story of Adam Glenn (Galitzine), a constantly-stressed Millennial working a dead-end job desperate for people to believe his fantastic story—that’s he’s actually Prince Adam of Eternia, a mythical realm of magic and technology. As a child, he narrowly escaped from the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) with the one thing the villain yearns the most—the Sword of Power that could bestow dominion over the universe.
Growing up on Earth, Adam rediscovers the sword, which summons his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes) to bring him home. However, joyful reunions have to wait, because Adam returns to a ravaged Eternia, with his friends and family under the brutal heel of Skeletor’s reign. They need a hero, and all Adam needs to do is raise the sword aloft and claim the power of Greyskull to save the kingdom once and for all.
Galitzine is perfect, channeling the cartoon Adam’s diffidence despite looking like he’s chiseled out of stone. His childlike joy at seeing his—and by extension, our—childhood heroes in Eternia is infectious. And when he transforms into his powered-up persona He-Man (complete with a gleeful glance at his new abs), it’s convincing.
The foil to Galitzine’s earnestness is Jared Leto as Skeletor, who channels the cartoon’s campiness while giving it a modern edge. Leto may be box office poison, but he’s a big part of what makes Masters of the Universe enjoyable as he goes all in with the villainous melodrama.
I love how the movie embraces the 80’s cheese of the cartoon, from the garish colors to the wild character designs (hello, Mekaneck!). Some of the humor might fly over the heads of the younger crowd yet will put a smile on an elder Milennial's face. But sometimes, the camp gets a little too much that it borders on parody. Masters of the Universe doesn’t know if it wants to be a reverent homage to the 80’s cartoon or a kitschy spoof—how will you make kids care about Ram-Man and Fisto when you spend most of the movie making fun of them?
But then again, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. Masters of the Universe is the big budget, live-action sword-and-loincloth romp the cartoon deserves. But it deserved better.
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