‘Masters of the Universe’: An Endearingly Clumsy Grasp for Power
Tonally confused and narratively abrupt, the new adaptation maintains a winning charm despite its faults.
I have no nostalgia for Masters of the Universe. I didn’t play with the toys or watch the cartoon growing up. I only saw the 1987 Cannon adaptation last week in preparation for the new movie. But while fans will likely find a bevy of Easter eggs and references to enjoy, I admired that director Travis Knight manages to stay true to the heart of this franchise. While the company line may be something along the lines of “Finding the power within yourself,” the true heart is smashing action figures together. That’s what Masters of the Universe feels like, but with the enthusiasm of a child rather than a collector who needs everything to remain pristine. The underlying irreverence can make the moments of earnestness ring hollow, but they also keep the proceedings light. Even if you’ve never picked up a Masters of the Universe action figure, the film’s playfulness is enough to make for an entertaining albeit disposable summer blockbuster.
When his kingdom of Eternia was taken over by Skeletor (Jared Leto), young prince Adam escaped to Earth. Now an adult (Nicholas Galitzine), Adam never gave up on his dream of returning to Eternia even though everyone else thinks he’s crazy. When he reunites with the sword that holds the kingdom’s power, it allows him to go home with his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes). However, Eternia has fallen into ruin, and no one believes this shy, clumsy guy is truly the lost Prince. Together with Teela and her drunken father, the warrior Duncan (Idris Elba) and a former battle robot, Roboto (voiced by Kristen Wiig), Adam must defeat Skeletor and save his home world.
A new adaptation of Masters of the Universe has been in development for a long time (I wrote an article for Collider dating back to 2010), and it bears the hallmarks of various scripts and ideas stacked on top of each other. For example, there’s the usefulness of having Adam name the residents of Eternia as he remembers them so that they fit with their toy names like “Fisto” (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) and “Ram Man” (Jon Xue Zhang). But you still have villains named “Skeletor” and “Evil-Lyn” (Alison Brie). Scenes will have bizarre conflicts like the film establishing that Skeletor wants the sword, but whenever Adam drops it, the minions keep fighting Adam rather than going for the thing the bad guy wants.
The film teeters in the odd space of embracing the silliness and doing the Marvel Studios’ thing where everything has one level ironic appreciation so that nothing plays as totally earnest. While Marvel has shown how to make this balancing act work in films like Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy (two blockbusters that were clear influences on this movie), Masters of the Universe never pulls off that two-step. Granted, the comedy is surprisingly strong, especially everything with Skeletor that clearly pulls from the character’s meme popularity.
But whenever it wants to find a core theme about what “power” would mean to a guy who calls himself “He-Man,” it stumbles over what masculinity means to a modern man like Adam. Galitzine’s performance has gentleness and a lovably dorky attitude, but the character rests too heavily as a guy working in HR and telling the audience that it means he understands conflict resolution. It’s a weird shorthand to convey masculinity outside of brute strength, and one that ignores any acts of kindness or positive masculinity in opposition to the toxic attitudes permeating our culture. It feels like someone looked at how Barbie addressed women and thought that Masters of the Universeshould address men with similar gender observations. That’s a good start, but the film’s solution is to have Adam address people with HR-speak rather than demonstrating what positive masculinity looks like. Also, despite a valiant effort from Galitzine, it’s tough to believe this handsome, muscular guy is so nerdy and awkward that he would face bullying well into adulthood. The script is several polishes away from making Adam the hero it needs him to be.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of comedy to fall back on, and that, combined with the colorful action, keeps Masters of the Universe aloft. The film’s closest cousin doesn’t feel like Barbie, but instead Stephen Sommers’ 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Neither film possesses the strongest script, but they do have the youthful enthusiasm of a child playing with toys. Whether the film is actually for children is a matter of debate. Instead, it plays more for an older crowd seeking to be transported, and for those like me who lack the nostalgia, win them over with silly humor. I’m not sure where younger viewers fit in when you have a movie with more than one “fisting” joke (because there’s a guy name “Fisto”), but if you’re like me and have a juvenile sense of humor, you’ll laugh.
Masters of the Universe is far from successful toy-based features like Barbie and The LEGO Movie, but it admirably punches above its weight, taking a decades-old franchise that has struggled to remain in the popular consciousness and making it broadly entertaining. Sure, it’s got a heavy dose of Marvel attitude at a time when even Marvel’s fortunes are slipping, but it also pops with color and a strong score from Daniel Pemberton. It’s a movie that understands that if you want a fun Jared Leto performance, just make sure we never see his face. The hodgepodge of influences and script contrivances may not have the power, but Masters of the Universe refuses to fizzle out.
Masters of the Universe opens in theaters on June 5th.
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