But last night something came out that I have been hoping to see for a very long time. And yeah there is the 1987 film adaptation and it definitely has heart, but in terms of faithfulness to the basic material it lacked a lot. 1987's Masters of the Universe has been called a very good Jack Kirby-inspired movie though, so it's got that going for it, and I can agree with that.
So a more accurate (??) adaptation is something that a lot of us ("lot of us" reading as "guys in their forties and fifties who are trying to relive their childhood favorites) have been wanting for quite awhile now. And now Masters of the Universe, directed by Travis Knight (no relation) and starring Nicholas Galitzine as heroic He-Man and Jared Leto as the evil Skeletor, has finally arrived. I went to the 7 o'clock showing last night at the theater about ten minutes from my house.
What have I to say about it?
Masters of the Universe '26 is just what I was hoping for in a summer movie: big, loud, colorful, dumb, and fun!
This is not a movie that takes itself seriously or asks you the viewer to take it seriously either. Masters of the Universe is very aware of what it is: a motion picture based on a line of toys. In this case it's inspired by one of the most well-remembered toy lines of the Eighties. I guess that after the raging success of Barbie, Mattel is hoping that lightning will strike twice. And based on what I saw last night and the audience reaction, they might have something approximating that.
No, it's not a deathly serious movie. This film is like watching every Masters of the Universe toy you ever had in your big box of them being dumped out on the floor, and throwing them whole onto the big screen. And I was having a hoot pointing to and saying the names of the characters: Fisto, Roboto, Trap-Jaw... hey even some characters from the '87 movie (look for Dolph Lundgren in a fairly important cameo). If you have any persistent knowledge of the toy line from forty-odd years ago, you will be rejoicing at how many classic characters show up in this movie, and practically every one of them looking exactly as you might have imagined them appearing in a live-action spectacle. I can't think of a single disappointment in that department.
Masters of the Universe doesn't have much of a moral, or at least not one that it beats you over the head with. Okay, yeah there is something about standing up and not backing down, which Man-At-Arms (wonderfully played by Idris Elba) tries to drill into young Prince Adam early in the film. But so far as an agenda goes, there is absolutely none in this movie. It's a children's playtime, writ large and projected onto the big screen (I'd love to see how it looks in IMAX), with all the carelessness and lack of worry that we ideally should have all had from ages 6 to 10 and playing make-believe with those amazing action figures.
I had a blast seeing Masters of the Universe. I wasn't alone. The theater was fairly packed and I noticed a few men about my own age who had children with them. I spoke with one of them after the movie and he told me that he had been showing his kids the classic Eighties cartoon series and that they had really been loving that. "You're raising them up right!", I told him. He told me that he tries.
So much else that could be said about this movie. I won't add on much else, other than it was a very enjoyable two-plus hours and I wouldn't mind catching it again while it's in theaters.
By the way, be aware that there are three mid/end credit scenes in this movie. So don't go rushing out of the theater before the lights come back up!
