Director Travis Knight brings a good-versus-evil story from the 1980s kicking, screaming and winking into 2026, writes Brad Wheeler.Amazon MGM Studios/Supplied
Masters of the Universe
Directed by Travis Knight
Written by Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee and David Callaham, based on Mattel’s Masters of the Universe franchise
Starring Nicholas Galitzine, Jared Leto, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Alison Brie
Classification PG; 141 minutes
Opens in theatres June 5
Director Travis Knight has said the objective for his playful reboot of the Masters of the Universe film franchise was for the film to feel like a child in a playroom smashing their action figures together. He’s no dummy. The easiest way to complete the assignment is to draw it up as simply as possible for yourself.
Boys will be boys, toys will be toys and the battle scenes in Knight’s film are relentless. (The director’s own toy is CGI.) The universe exists in a kind of medieval/sci-fi hybrid situation that allows for futuristic weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, too. I could have used a little less of Knight’s smashing of fighters together.
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A line of Mattel toys spawned the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated sword-and-sorcery series in the early 1980s, followed by the 1987 live-action Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lundgren as the heroic He-Man opposite Frank Langella’s skull-faced fiend Skeletor on the planet Eternia.
Here, handsome blond Nicholas Galitzine plays the dual role of human resources office mimbo/dweeb Adam Glenn on Earth and the well-muscled He-Man, the former Prince of Eternia who fled his home planet as a kid for his protection.
His nemesis Skeletor is played deliciously by Jared Leto. The polarizing method actor is unrecognizable in the role, which is just as well. Skeletor says such things as, “The universe shall quake in my shadow” and “I am the devil, but I mean to be a god.” Which, for Leto, is probably just the kind of ridiculous thing he’d tell a blind date or a movie producer.
Camila Mendes as Teela plays the tough-girl love interest to a T. Idris Elba is her father, Man-At-Arms, a flawed warrior. Watch for his mustache to earn an Oscar nomination for best supporting facial hair. Kristen Wiig voices a wise-cracking robot who looks a lot like the maid on The Jetsons.
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As for other references, whether intended or not, take your pick among Superman, Highlander, Thor and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The bombastic Flash Gordon-like score was composed by Daniel Pemberton and features guitar work by Queen’s Brian May. (Freddie Mercury’s singing makes a cameo.)
The film is tons of fun, especially for 14-year-old boys. There are more sword-based double entendres than one can shake a whatever at.
Despite the locker-room humour, Knight brings a good-versus-evil story from the 1980s kicking, screaming and winking into 2026. There are He/Him pronouns − woke is the joke − and modern corporate speak: What used to be a prebattle speech is now a team-building exercise.
Inside the He-Man is a reluctant warrior and modern man who is able to choose understanding and empathy over brute force and the vaunted “power of the sword.” Make no bones about it, the villain Skeletor represents toxic masculinity.
The film’s main flaw is repetitiveness. At two hours and 21 minutes, it only feels like Eternia.