A One Mann’s Movies review of “Masters of the Universe”. (2026, 3*, 12A).
“By Grabthar’s hammer… by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!” – no, hang on, that’s a different (and much better) film. But with “Masters of the Universe” we are in similar fantasy territory here with Mattel trying to pull another “Barbie” hit out of the summer of ’26. And Amazon/Mattel have a LOT riding on this one, having spent $200 million on the production (and probably at least the same again on marketing).
I’ll confess that I went into this one with ultra-low expectations so the fact that I have reached for anything above a 1-star rating in my bag of stars is a miracle. The fact I have given it 3 stars is surprising to me. Although it is horribly uneven in tone and pacing and really doesn’t know what it wants to be, it was still a fun enough summer popcorn romp to pass a rainy afternoon.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Young Prince Adam (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) is a bit of a sensitive weakling in the kingdom of Eternia, wanting nothing better than to joke around with his best friend Teela (Eire Farrell) rather than engage in fight-practice with the king’s top knight Duncan (Idris Elba). But when Eternia is attacked by the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) the king and queen (James Purefoy and Charlotte Riley) transport Adam to Earth with the ‘Power Sword’ for his safety. But the now grown Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) has lost the sword and no-one believes the tales of his true origin.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Moderate fantasy violence, innuendo, language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jon Xue Zhang, Alison Brie, Sam C. Wilson, Charlotte Riley, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Kristen Wiig, Christiaan Bettridge, Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Eire Farrell, James Wilkinson, Christian Vunipola, Tom Wilton.
Directed by: Travis Knight.
Written by: Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee & Dave Callaham. (Story by Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, Alex Litvak & Michael Finch.)
Running Time: 2h 20m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film has great energy in its fight scenes, with good settings (some of it is Wells Cathedral! Other scenes were shot in Beer Caves in Devon!); adequate effects and dynamic action.
- Although stolen from “Superman: The Movie”, the whole Clark Kent learning-to-work on Earth stuff is very entertaining. It was my favourite part of the movie. He is working in an HR department in corporate America for a boss Susie (an immaculate Sasheer Zamata, very funny) who is all touchy-feely (consensually, of course!) and doesn’t like conflict. Adam’s friend and room-mate, Hussein (Christian Vunipola, channelling Jacob Batalan’s Ned from “Spider-Man“), is quietly into rom-com weepies and would love to believe Adam’s story, but has doubts.
- Nicholas Galatzine and Camila Mendes make a fine kick-ass action team (even if, as below, their romantic chemistry is none existent.) I also enjoyed Idris Elba’s performance. But stealing every scene for me was Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Skeleton’s right-hand witch, revelling in her evil-ness with a side order of sadomasochism!
- The film’s music was by the ever-busy Daniel Pemberton, who seems to have leaned so heavily into the “Flash Gordon” vibe (with Brian May on guitars) that I expected Brian Blessed to bellow “Gordon’s Alive!” at appropriate points. But it all adds to the campy fantasy feel of the piece. There is even a Freddie Mercury-led Queen song – “Princes of the Universe” – stolen from the “Highlander” soundtrack.
- I suspect a cameo appearance in a gym will make you either smile or cringe: I actually smiled.
Negatives:
- Who exactly is the target audience for this film? Is in the die-hard (now increasingly ancient) fans of the original cartoon series from 1983 – 85? Or is it a new breed of potential young fans and Mattel toy buyers? Because, for me, this movie fell between those two stools. The film has an incessant stream of sexual innuendo: things looking small because they have big hands; Fisto: “I fist people”; Fisto to Ram Man: “Give me head”; “loin cloth in the face”; “huge thing dangling between your legs”… on and on and on. This might give parents looking to take their under-12s to see the film pause. True that most of this will go over most kid’s heads, in true pantomime style, but it might beg the question “what are all these people laughing at Mummy”? As the guys on this week’s “Movie Bread Club” said (see “Summary”) they should have either made it for the ‘real fans’, making it a much darker, sexier, more violent 15 or 18 film; or else remove the filth, tame the action (just a tad) and go for a full-out PG release. (It’s not as if family films are not finding a huge audience at the moment!)
- Some of the comedy in the script lands. But, for me, much of it did not. A few of the gags and much of the innuendo fell to the floor so heavily that I was rolling my eyes at times.
- Where is the core relationship in the film? From almost the get-go, you think “oh, Adam and Teela are cute together as kids… I wonder what happens when they grow up” (wink, wink). As it turns out, fuck all! Adam is painted as a lost child on Earth, unlucky in love and not getting any. So when hot chick Teela rocks up (and Camila Mendes, who I only know as the bride from “Palm Springs“, is pretty hot!) you immediately think “OK, here is the Luke and Leia hero/heroine romance” vibe (without all the icky DNA-matching). You’d think this would be particularly so when Adam transforms into the mighty, muscle-rippling He-Man, losing his trousers but gaining a loin-cloth, but all in full view of Teela! However, when Adam goes in for the kiss it’s all, “no, let’s not spoil our friendship” mush! As a story arc, it’s the film’s most disappointing let-down.
- The film is 140 minutes long. Although I accept it really didn’t feel that long to me, there are a number of points at which the film becomes needlessly talky-talky and slow. The film’s energy drained and my energy drained with it. It needed a much sharper, funnier script and a sharper editing knife.
- Skeletor is not remotely scary, thanks to his camp manner and his egotistical actions. In particular, the film milks a ‘villain-laughing’ gag that was done to death in the three Austin Powers films already. However, this is probably my favourite Jared Leto performance in a long time!
Monkeys?
There are not one, not two, but three monkeys in the end credits! (Some spoilers in here, so stop reading if you care!)
The first, immediately after the first “Directed by” title, is a light-hearted throwback to a “what did we learn” segment that I understand was a part of the original animated series; the second scene, mid-credits, has the Queen and Duncan in conversation and hints (in Yoda “there is another” style) to a character in the next film (shown in back view); and the final scene, post-credits, features Evil-Lyn and hints at something else returning in the next film.
Summary Thoughts:
I have talked in previous posts about the new(-ish) podcast “The Movie Bread Club” that I absolutely love, And that’s not just because my daughter Jenn is one of the team: I genuinely look forward to Mondays coming around so that I can listen to another episode! They are hilarious together and their insights on film are also highly insightful.
I say that now, because the latest episode (you can listen to it on most podcast platforms, for example here) is about “Masters of the Universe”. Lee Casey is a die-hard MotU fan and his take on the film, as an uber-fan, is particularly insightful. They actually have most of the same issues with the film as I have outlined, so we are pretty aligned with our views and ratings.
But, my summary of this one is that it is a fun popcorn romp, not as good in my book as the likes of “Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves“, but still exceeding my low expectations to at least be watchable. However, for a film’s huge budget (plus whatever extra they spent on marketing), I would have expected the production to have properly defined their target market and then to have refined the script to properly hit that market. In my humble opinion, they failed to achieve that and as a result I would think that Amazon/MGM will be unlikely to make back their money on their $200 million investment.
- Just to put that into perspective, the budget for this film could have produced 20 lots of “Backrooms” and 200 lots of “Obsession“! Playing a very silly game, I just did the maths and at the current level of box office, that would have already generated 1.6 Billion dollars for “Backrooms” and a staggering 42 Billion dollars for “Obsession“!!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21JsHLHnY8.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!