Fun but Flawed
Summary
Masters of the Universe is a colourful good time, but is let down by a weak script and not using the proper theme tune until the end. Jared Leto is awesome as Skeletor and at times it feels like the cartoon brought to life. The first half on Earth is quite painful and dull but the second half is superior and action packed.
Plot: The Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, a world shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. Joining forces with Teela and Man-At-Arms, Adam must embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.
Review: Masters of the Universe has been one of my most anticipated movies of the year; I grew up with the original cartoon and even enjoyed the Dolph Lundgren movie mostly due to Frank Langella’s awesome Skeletor.
The trailers made the new film look vibrant and colourful with the characters looking like they’ve been lifted straight out of the cartoon, so I went in with high expectations.
Sadly, I had the worst theatrical experience of my entire life and it wasn’t because of the movie. At Cineplex they have this horrendous thing called DBOX where the chairs move and shake, spraying water and air at you while you’re trying to watch a movie. If you ever want to see what turbulence feels like before a plane crash then this is for you. You may think then why did you go see it there? Well, it was the only way to view it. I just wanted to see a regular showing of it, but this was all that was playing which I’m sure will affect the box office. This also has affected my opinion of the film somewhat, so maybe I’m being more harsh than it deserves, but time will tell.
There is a lot to enjoy with this new film; it is indeed colourful and there are some entertaining action set-pieces with plenty of references to the cartoon. Jared Leto steals the show as Skeletor and at one point he even calls someone a “boob”, so in that respect it delivered. Nicholas Galitzine is appealing as Adam/He-Man although for the first half he is a bumbling idiot who wants to talk about his feelings and we are reminded constantly how masculinity is wrong. Yawn.
We only see Battlecat at the very last moment and most importantly THE music is only at the end too. I was waiting for the tune for the whole movie, but instead it’s right at the end; it admittedly sounds great but why wasn’t it used when Adam transforms into He-Man (whose name they mock by the way)? Oh Jay Man, I think you will hate this movie.
Daniel Pemberton’s score is great and is very reminiscent of Highlander which is referenced throughout; the use of a Queen song is perfect too. Like I said, it’s just too bad they leave out the real theme until the end.
I really enjoyed Idris Elba as Duncan AKA Man at Arms and Teela was likeable too; seeing Fisto, Mekaneck and Ram Man brought to life was awesome even if it does go for cheap gags at times. Trap Jaw looked great too and was more intimidating than he ever has been before.
The worst aspect of the film is the script which is mostly awful; a lot of the humour went flat and only Skeletor had the good lines. It does have the MCU effect where there are almost too many quips, but it just manages to maintain some dramatic moments, so we still care about what happens. I think the second half of the movie is definitely superior and is mostly well paced, rarely going too long between action scenes. It isn’t short on spectacle and our audience was cheering at several points while I was too busy trying not to soil myself in the moving chair.
Overall, Masters of the Universe has plenty of flaws, but there is still a lot to enjoy with Skeletor at his villainous best, some decent action scenes and it looks great. I wish the theme tune was used more as it was slam dunk and they still managed to not get it right. The frustrating thing is there is so much about this movie that was entertaining and it could have been awesome with a better script, but it went for cheap gags and most of the humour didn’t land for me. I need to see it again, so I can actually enjoy it without the theatre trying to kill me, but I’ll wait for the 4K.