Film review: ‘MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Masters Of The Universe loosely remakes the very dicey 1987 Dolph Lundgren film as a Thor Ragnarok-style pisstaking action/ fantasy/ comedy. Within the scope of its juvenile ambition this film works occasionally but not often enough.
Masters follows the adventures of Adam Glenn (Nicholas Galitzine) aka He-Man a refugee from the planet Eternia which has been taken over by the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto). Having escaped to Earth as a child, Adam has grown into a pretty boy young adult goofball who works in HR. Understandably hating his life as a corporate, drone he longs to return to Eternia. When he surprisingly scores a ride back to his home world, Adam transforms into the fabled super hero He-Man but is hunted by Skeletor who has ensconced himself in the royal residence Castle Greyskull and in a slightly fuzzy mythology believes that He-man’s “sword of power” will make him invincible.
The film’s opening probably had long time Masters fans a little worried. Rather than a charming 80’s retro experience, the world of Eternia to which were introduced is a weird glossy creation that looks as if it was conjured by AI. Thankfully, though, Masters is a little more inventive and entertaining than those initial scenes suggested. The all-important actions sequences are surprisingly explosive and bone crunching and the scenes on Earth have a goofy appeal as they depict Adam’s attempts to combat his mundane life.
Most of the Eternia sequences oscillate between elaborate CGI-based action and adolescent self-referential gags. This film seems to be going for a riotous action fantasy romp like The Princess Bride or one of the biggest surprises of recent years, Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves but it’s not quite there. There are some funny moments and a few audience members were cackling throughout but too many gags feel forced or poorly timed and there are even a couple of Adam Sandler movie-level dick jokes.
There are also some gaping story holes. After Adam lands on Earth as a child, we simply jump forward to when he’s a 20-something. What happened during those 15 years? Was he raised by humans Superman-style? The film doesn’t bother with such piffling details. Also, characters who seem to have been killed reappear without explanation.
Galitzine does a reasonable job balancing the muscly warrior heroics and the ‘confused young dork’ comedy. He’s a fairly likeable screen presence but lacks the charisma Cary Elwes or Sam J. Jones brought to a vaguely similar roles in The Princess Bride and Flash Gordon respectively. The film is just too silly to give him a compelling story arc so there’s no inspiring or even particularly interesting personal journey or self-actualisation here. Camila Mendes is competent enough in the role of Teela the resident tough girl warrior but the attempts to make her Adam’s love interest fall flat. Jared Leto brings a reasonable mix of nastiness and scenery chewing comic pomposity to Skeletor although he speaks like the voice from the song Monster Mash. The standout, not surprisingly, is Idris Elba as elite soldier and Teela’s father Duncan who proves as formidable an action hero as anyone and is also a decent comic foil. Idris seems a bit too classy to be in a film like this.
Masters of the Universe is a little more fun than expected but it’s many light years from an action fantasy classic and not even in the league of most Gen X favourite 80’s crowd pleasers.
Nick’s rating: **1/2
Genre: Fantasy/science fiction/ adventure/ comedy.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Travis Knight.
Release date: 4th June 2026.
Running time: 141 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
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