Adam and the Masters of the Universe
The first live-action Masters of the Universe film since 1987, the new film makes notable upgrades in allowing most of the plot to unfold on Eternia (although we do get stuck on Earth for a large section of Act I), throw in more of oddball characters of the franchise (although not as many as you may be expecting), and (perhaps a little too much) discuss who has the power of Grayskull. It's a more accurate film in honoring the toys and animated series that captured kids' attention in the 1980s, but is it a better film?
Going for more of the look of the 2002 animated series, Nicholas Galitzine stars as Prince Adam. I would say he also stars as He-Man, but I'm not sure that's accurate as Adam, whether super-charged with Grayskull power or simply his kind-hearted dopey self, is always notably Adam. Sent to Earth with the Sword of Power as a boy when Skeletor (Jared Leto) seizes Eternia, Adam grows up in a harsher world that teaches him his memories of Eternia are just childhood dreams.
Following an extended section of the film on Earth showcasing how hard a time Adam has had fitting in, he's eventually reunited with the sword, found by his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), and returned home. In a film that feels 20 minutes too long, much of this Earth section could have been trimmed as even the notable cameo, a nod to the 1987, goes on far too long.
Like the Battlestar Galactica remake, Masters of the Universe is a little ashamed of how ridiculous its characters' names may appear to audiences. So while we get Teela, Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie), and Skeletor, many of the heroes of Eternia we only learn through the names Adam gave them as a boy such as Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) and Ram Man (Jon Xue Zhang) whose nicknames become running jokes for the film.
Galitzine is capable, if somewhat slender, in the role, although the film's obsession with making him spout HR jargon does grow tiring. Mendes really steals the film as Teela, and things do suffer when she isn't on screen. Idris Elba is fine, but feels mostly wasted (at times literally) in the film as Teela's fallen father Man-At-Arms. And since we get so little of Morena Baccarin as the Sorceress its hard to judge other than to admit she pushes the plot forward when needed.
However, Brie is a baffling choice as Evil-Lyn and a glaring example of where casting of the first film was better in her role. That's insane to think about, but also undeniable. And Leto's CGI Skeletor is certainly intriguing to look at, as are most of his minions, although the film can never quite decide if it wants him to be the scary figure of the toy line or the the goofy over-the-top boob of the animated series (and when it attempts to give him funny or more outlandish moments they often fall flat).
So is it a better film? The action sequences are certainly better and the GCI allows for characters like Cringer to be incorporated into the story (along with a cameo of one other important character if you stay through the credits along with a Flash Gordon-inspired coda). It's more earnest, and less cheesy, but still somewhat ashamed, look at the characters that only really gives us He-Man in action set pieces with Adam always the film's main character. Broadly fine in most aspects, it's a marginal improvement over the original but I don't know if its more or less watchable lacking the previous film's trainwreck qualities.
- Title: Masters of the Universe (2026)
- IMDb: link
