Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable
Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Acceptable
Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable
Have you ever had a friend who tries to tell the group a joke that he thinks is really funny, but the joke bombs? And then to make up for it, that same friend keeps telling jokes, hoping one of them will land, but things get more and more awkward?
That is the biggest problem with Masters of the Universe
The movie is based on the famous cartoon and toyline. Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) has been sent to live in safety on Earth after the kingdom of his father Randor (James Purefoy) is conquered by the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto). Adam has been living on Earth for a decade searching for the Sword of Power, which he lost on the journey. Everyone thinks he is crazy. But then his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), daughter of the head of the King's Guard Duncan/Man-at-Arms (Idris Elba), comes to Earth to bring Adam back to Eternia. All the while they are pursued by Skeletor's forces until Adam can release the power of the sword and become the hero of Eternia: He-Man.
As an action/adventure movie, Masters of the Universe is actually pretty good. The fight scenes are fun to watch with big, bright, bold heroes versus villains. While Eternia feels a little too filled with CGI, the production design on it is very good and nice to look at. The story isn't trying to re-invent the wheel. It is a by-the-numbers hero's journey. And perhaps this is part of being a Gen-Xer, but I couldn't help but get excited when I recognized a character from my childhood come onto the big screen like they just stepped out of my memory. I particularly like how they didn't really compromise the over-the-top style of the characters, but tried to incorporate as much of their wild appearances as possible.
The performances also generally good. Galitzine is perfectly likeble as Adam and he becomes our POV character for the entire movie. In the cartoon, He-Man is the actual person and Adam is a persona, but in the movie it is vice-versa. Mendes has good chemistry with him and the two work off well against each other without her trying to overshadow or girlboss him. Elba always brings charisma and gravitas to everything he does. Even Leto does a good job as Skeletor, so much so that I would not have known that it was him if he wasn't credited (granted his face is all CGI, but the voice performance is unrecognizable). The only performance that is off is Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn. I take no pleasure in this, because Brie is a very talented comedic and dramatic actress. But she plays Evil-Lyn like she's doing an SNL parody. But that performance is not the big problem with the movie.
The big problem is the script.
The movie wants to be funnier than it is.
Masters of the Universe is filmed like an action/comedy. To be clear, this is not like a typical Marvel movie where it is an action movie with a lot of humor. No, this movie is filmed like an action movie that is also built for laughs like Dragnet or 21 Jump Street. Nearly every single scene is written and directed with comedic intent. Nearly every scene ends with a punchline. I came to this realization in a scene where He-Man is awkwardly fighting Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson) on a bridge. Every time He-Man got injured, it would cut to a reaction shot of Teela or Duncan winces for comedic effect as if to say "That's gotta hurt!" In fact, in the entire film there may be only one or two scenes that allow actual heartfelt emotion to breathe, but then it quickly backs off the more serious tone.
And that isn't to say that I am criticizing this movie because it chose to be comedic, like Masters of the Universe is some sacred story that cannot be mocked. I am perfectly fine with this approach. My problem is that the jokes are nearly as funny as they should be.
Humor is horribly subjective. If the jokes land it can elevate the material. I mentioned in my Mortal Kombat II review that every scene with Kano made me laugh out loud. The humor of the film helped overcome most of its flaws to make me remember it fondly. Masters of the Universe was a movie filled with jokes that only made me laugh a handful of time. If the movie had less jokes or if the more of the jokes landed, this movie would score higher with me. In fact, I think if you removed a lot of jokes, it would not only help the joke-to-laugh ratio, but it would cut down its 140 minute run time. And this could be done easily. There is one scene where the heroes are doing a cool slow motion walk through smoke set to Queen's "Princes of the Universe." You could easily cut from this to the subsequent fight scene. But the movie instead decided to insert a sight gag that went on too long without a strong payoff.
This isn't to say the script lacks cleverness. One of the smartest thing the script does is explain the silly names of the heroes and villains as the young child Adam not knowing their real names and so coming up with nicknames like "Fisto" and "Ram Man."
The movie also has some nice things to say about heroism, manhood, and violence. Adam as a child feels like he is not able to live up to his father's expectations because he is not a strong warrior. This lingers throughout the entire movie, so much so that He-Man becomes the fulfillment of this primal, boyish desire for strength. But the movie explores this a little deeper. This isn't an eschewing of traditional masculinity, but an examination of it. Duncan at one points says to Adam, "When war breaks out, it's not the poets that step up. It's the man with the muscle. He's not doing it for glory. He's doing it so his children can see another morning. That is a man, as far as I can tell. He stands up when he is needed." I thought that this was a fantastic encapsulation of the masculine genius. As summed up in the movie Camelot: "Not 'might is right," but "might for right!'" The culminates in the final confrontation with Skeletor where He-Man tries to find a non-violent solution, but understands that sometimes someone must stand fight until the end.
Despite the flaws, I enjoyed Masters of the Universe. I only wish it didn't try so hard to be funny. There is so much potential for this franchise going forward as long as they stop focusing on jokes and instead concentrate of sci-fi action. It's in the latter where this movie has the power.
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