He-Man gets a He-Movie that could have been better.
When young Adam tells his date, his classmates, his roommate, and his boss that he comes from a fantasy world and only a magic sword can bring him back, it’s clear everyone thinks he’s crazy. He has the childhood when he’s a weakling in combat training, his royal father seeing him as a child, and his world Eternia is being threatened by the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto, disguised by props and CGI effects), who covets the Sword of Power (yup, that’s what this sword is called). And that’s when the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) sends Adam and the sword to Earth, and that’s when he loses it, and thats when nobody believes him about his origins. I mean, how could they? They live in what is supposed to be a reality.
“Masters of the Universe” is the latest in a series of Mattel toys, 80s cartoons, and media franchises to get a new movie. More in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Minecraft Movie” spirit. That means there’s a lot of humor, CGI effects, and fans clapping at the iconic characters, outfits and weaponry. And being a movie inspired by an 80s cartoon, you’re going to be given a lot of corny dialogue from Skeletor. The kind when he makes speeches and his henchmen give him slowwitted silences, and he needs his sorceress assistant Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) to help wake them up.
Nicholas Galitzine stars as Adam, who finally gets the text message that the Sword of Power has been found at a comic book store. It may look like a plastic sword in the human’s perspective, and it looks like it doesn’t work on Earth (I guess saying “By the power of Grayskull, I HAVE THE POWER” only works on Eternia), but it’s the real deal. If it wasn’t then, Skeletor’s monster goons nor Adam’s old childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes) wouldn’t be showing up on Earth. That’s when she takes him home, and that’s when he tries to convince the Eternia residents that he is the son of the king (James Purefoy). They include names he remembers (like Idris Elba as Teela’s father and a drunken general Duncan) and names he assumed as a child. He assumes a man with a giant metal fist is named Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson). And when Teela asks: “Fisto?!,” he responds: “I was a kid.”
Directed by Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Bumblebee,” and the upcoming “Wildwoods”), this is the second film version of “Masters of the Universe” after the 1987 movie, which starred Dolph Lundren, bombed with critics and at the box office, but has developed a cult following. B-movies or He-movies in this case always manage to find cult followings, especially when action figures and cartoons have elevated the youngsters through the years. I am not one of those youngsters, but I still had to see this new “Masters of the Universe” because I like its cast with Galitzine, Mendes, and Elba delivering some funny and emotional moments, and it could be fun in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” sense. And it should be.
But the problem with this movie is that it spends too much time on the special effects and fights, and not enough time on really developing the characters or their world. It takes too long to get to the pay-off, and we can sense the moment a mile away. And as Roger Ebert observed with Batman actors in the 90s, I don’t think it matters who plays Skeletor, especially when Leto sounds different and is covered by special effects. It’s not as bad as how he was as the Joker with grills in his teeth in “Suicide Squad” or as the title Marvel vampire “Morbius,” but he begins to wear out his welcome with his campiness.
There are fans out there, and they may like this movie version as well. Maybe my reaction has something to do with my lack of knowledge of the franchise, but I do give the B.O.T.D. to other movies based on toys and cartoons occasionally. Just not this time.
