(M) ★★★
Director: Travis Knight
Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley, Morena Baccarin.
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| This crew came to party. |
He-Man, to me, was the toys and the original cartoon, which I was shocked to learn only ran from 1983-1985. I'd forgotten about the minicomics that came with the toys, and the She-Ra spin-off series, and I know I saw the 1987 live action film, though I have little-to-no memory of it.
But I was stunned to learn there was so much more Masters Of The Universe material out there: beyond the comics and video games, the cartoon was rebooted in 1990, 2002, and twice in 2021. Even She-Ra got rebooted in 2018.
It just goes to show that even as the Gen Xers moved on, there was something about the mythos and characters of Masters Of The Universe that endured, presumably beyond Mattel's desire for a never-ending cash cow.
Perhaps the appeal lies in its oddball combination of sci-fi and fantasy, in a world where spaceships exist side-by-side with magic (without being too much like Star Wars). Or maybe it's in its dichotomy of good and evil - that the lazy Prince Adam could become the ultimate hero, and where the villian has a literal skull for a face and who wants nothing more than to rule the world. Or maybe it's the fact that just about everyone in the show has some kind of superpower, like some weird kind of X-Men in Space. Or maybe it's the campy silly fun of it all.
All of these things are what Travis Knight and Mattel appear to be aiming for in this long-gestating live action reboot (its been in the works for about 17 years). The new film acknowledges the goofiness of its source material (perhaps a little too much) but seems fully aware of what worked for the franchise in its many incarnations. It's definitely trying to have its meta-cake and eat it too, and is semi-successful in doing so.
The new film centres on Adam (Galitzine), a prince on Eternia but sent to Earth for his safety when Skeletor (Leto) turns up to take over as ruler. Adam is sent with a sword that holds the power of Grayskull - a force that has the potential to turn him into a god. If only he could find the damned thing and use it to get home to save the day.
Masters Of The Universe does its best to balance its source material and a modern sensibility, mostly through an offbeat sense of humour. The dumb names of characters - Ram-Man, Fisto, and, dumbest of all, He-Man - remain, but are dismissed as a childish lack of imagination. Skeletor's lack of character depth is a throwaway joke or two. The generally campy and silly vibe is offset by bursts of sci-fi violence.
In doing this, the film tries hard to appeal to the Gen Xers that liked the IP in the first place, and to appeal to the next generation too. It's a fine tightrope to walk, and the biggest criticism is that it repeatedly stumbles in trying to do so. There are some truly horrendous jokes in the name of winking at the grown-ups, and some equally bad ones for the kids with the aim of being goofy.
But where the film works is in its sense of irreverent fun. It has a generally good sense of humour about it all, and is smart enough to know what to be slavish about with the source material and what to jettison. It keeps up a pretty good pace for the most part, barreling from one CG set-piece to the next, and has just enough character development to be interesting in between.
The cast are the real highlight. Galitzine does a fine job as Adam/He-Man, Elba brings gravitas but also humour to Man-At-Arms, Brie is a joy as always despite being in the thankless role of Evil-Lyn, and Mendes is great as Teela. The absolute highlight though (surprisingly) is Leto - his Skeletor chews the scenery, leans into the camp, and manages to veer from ridiculous to evil perfectly.
Masters Of The Universe is a fun outing. It's the kind of idea that would never get off the ground these days, so it's only the nostalgia that makes it fly. While we don't necessarily need more of it, we should at least be glad we got this one.
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