REVIEW:
Masters of the Universe was a solid movie. Far better than the 1987 Dolph Lundreon joke of a movie, which pretty much refused to go to Eternia (the fictional world where this all takes place,) because setting the movie on earth would help them cut costs. That movie featured very few creature characters from the show (they intentionally made new characters because they wanted to make new toys,) and was more about trying to manipulate audiences than about making a good movie. This new Masters of the Universe film does the exact opposite, every step of the way. In every It goes to great pains to get the world right, to get the character right, and to get the tone right. There are definitely things that could have been better, but this movie swings big, and achieves some pretty cool things as a result.
The movie goes for a Star Wars meets Barbie vibe. From Star Wars, we get Adam, the out-of-touch, man-child protagonist. He’s obsessed with a missing sword and a fantasy land, and nobody believes a word about the stories he tells. From Barbie, this movie makes sure to give us commentary on the real world, specifically on what it’s like to be a man in today’s society. The real world stuff comes in the first half, with Adam on earth, working in Human Resources, while searching the internet for his lost sword. The interactions between Adam and his boss are funny, and we get just enough of the workplace environment to get the gist. It might have been nice to see Adam actually doing his job, (talking to a client, or sitting in a meeting,) to show if he was any good at it, but this movie is a bit too long as it is, so some things definitely needed to be cut.
Staying with the earth-story for a few more scenes, we get Adam at the gym, in a scene that appears to be here just to give Dolph Lundreon a cameo, and to express some masculinity commentary about men at the gym. And then we get Adam going to a vintage toy store to find his sword. The movie takes a little time to have Adam poke around the store, looking for the sword (which is a good thing,) although it doesn’t really clarify who messaged Adam wanting $300 for the sword, and if that person ever actually got paid. Still, by the time this scene is over, we get all of the man-child material and all of the human-resources, gym, what it’s like to be a man material. Now it’s time for the fantasy stuff.
This really begins when Beast Man attacks, right outside of the store. It’s a highway overpass fight, which we’ve seen a little too much of in movies lately. Between the Winter Soldier, Fast and the Furious movies, Spider Man No Way Home, and others, it might be time to pick a new location already. Set the fight in a mall or a movie theater or an arcade. Even at a zoo. Get creative. Still, we are now heading to Eternia, as Sheila shows up in a ship ti tae Adam there, (Adam touching the sword activated a beacon that went out to both Sheila and Beast Man, telling them where the sword and Adam were,) and that’a definitely a good thing.
Before we get to talking about Eternia, it is worth noting that the movie didn’t open with the earth story, but actually began on Eternia when Adam was a boy. Call it a prologue, this introduced us to the world and characters, including Man At Arms (played terrifically by Idris Elba,) and King Randor. We even got to meet some of the villains, like Trap Jaw. It was a great opening that included an attack, and led to Adam being sent to earth, Superman-style. The prologue to establish the fantasy world, followed by the handful of earth scenes to give commentary on both the society and the character, are all great. As far as figuring out how to tell this story, the movie definitely gets it right.
Now, after those opening acts (the flashback to Eternia, and then the handful of scenes of Adam on earth,) we are with Adam and Sheila, headed to Etetnia for the real fantasy storyline to begin. Upon arrival, Adam is devastated to see the place is an empty shell of what it once was. This is a take on the Lion King with Simba returning to see how terrible the land has become since Scar took over leadership. In the case of Masters of the Universe, it is Skeletor who has been running the show.
Speaking of Skeletor, Jared Leto plays the character and not only does the voice, but actually performs all of the actions in a body suit. This is not motion-capture Hulk or Thanos style. This is the real deal. And it is so much better than CGI, the way most movies would handle such a character these days. After all, he does have the head is a skull, so it would have been so easy for them to go full CGI. As it happens, only Skelator’s head was replaced with computer effects. And this is a very good thing, because Jared Leto happens to be one of the better aspects of the movie. His unique voice and mannerisms are spot on, making Skeletor somewhat funny and also somewhat menacing.
Eternia looks fantastic. No surprise there, since that was meant to be one of the selling points of the movie. What is a surprise, and a pleasant one at that, is what they do with all of the side characters. The movie really gets these guys right. And they take chances, and go all out. We’re talking about Fisto, Ram Man, and Mech-A-Neck on the good guys side. Not to mention Cringer, the talking giant green cat. It’a all here. In the 1987 version, they generally gave us the easy-to-make, realistic characters only, such as Teela and Man at Arms. Here, in this new version, they embrace the ridiculous, and have fun with it.
With that in mind, the characters are even referred to by their funny-sounding names. That’s something that even Marvel has generally shied away from, often referring to characters by their human names instead of their superhero names, (Wanda, instead of Scarlet Witch, for example.) But here, the movie has a blast with the names, making jokes like how Fisto is called that because he fists people. The most clever idea about all of it is that these are not the character’s real names or nicknames. They are simply the names Adam came up with for them when he was a boy. They were his playful, imaginative names. Now that definitely explains why the names would sound so silly. Fisto. Ram Man. It all makes sense now.
The good guys aren’t the only ones that look great. The movie works hard to get the bad guys right too. Not only do we get Skeletor and Evil Lynn, but also Beast Man, Trap Jaw, Spikor, Tri-Clops, Goat Man, and Karg (from the 1987 movie.) The movie not only includes these characters, but does most of them practically, with make-up and real actors. The looks are all terrific. And the way they come up with clever ideas for using the features of these characters, (such as another character getting impaled on Spikor’s spikes,) are a lot of fun.
The characters are all a blast, and they go right along with the B Movie, campy tone. So does the music, in fact. Brian Mays, of Queen, does the music, and it rings true of electric guitar and over-the-top 80’s sounds. It’s perfect for this movie, just the same way that Queen did the song “Flash Gordon,” which was perfect for that (similar themed,) movie.
So there’s a lot going on here with the atmosphere and the characters, but how about the story and the action. The answer is, they are both fine. The story definitely combines stories from other movies that we’ve seen before (Superman, the Lion King,) but it does this with its own campy tone and magical land. It works. And I like that Adam (he isn’t really called He Man in this movie,) travels to different locations, Lord of the Rings style, including going to Snake Mountain.
The action is also okay. When we see combat, it’s pretty good, but it’s also often hard to tell when it is CGI and when it is not. And CGI action just doesn’t look nearly as good as real action. That’s no more of a knock on this movie than it is on just about every action movie from the past decade. The last really good action in movies was probably in Captain America: Civil War, and in the Kingsman movies before that. So it’s been a while.
At the end of the day, this is a pretty good movie. The biggest flaw has got to be that they rely too much on humor. They don’t allow anything to be dramatic or meaningful, without cutting it with a joke. Think about the Lord of the Rings movies. There was definitely humor, mainly towards the beginning of each film, but imagine if every time Gandalf and Frodo had a serious talk, it was undercut with a joke. It just wouldn’t feel the same. And that’s the problem here. Too many jokes. It worked for Guardians (ending the first movie with a dance off,) but one has to wonder if their movie would have been a little better had they gone less hard on the jokey-jokey, and taken things just a slight bit more seroiusly from time to time. Still, for everything they do, including the music and characters and enjoyable tone, this movie is overall a lot of fun.