Masters of the Universe (2026)
Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Nicolas Galitzine, Jaret Leto, Idris Elba, Camila Mendes
Primary genre: Sword and sorcery
Secondary genre: Superhero
Masters of the Universe is a box office dud due to its lackluster trailers. This moment perhaps signifies the end of the 80s nostalgia craze that has plagued the cinemas and TVs alike for the last ten years or so. After all, several belated sequels and rebooted franchises of that era (Coming 2 America (2021), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)) misunderstood the elements which made their predecessors compelling in the first place, delivering, at best, mediocre entries.
“I am the villain. And mmm, does it feel good!”
While Masters of the Universe is not a bad movie per se, it features the same problems similar flicks of imaginary worlds (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Dungeons and Dragons (2023), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)) have: no compelling (or entertaining) villain, a de-saturated color palette, Marvel-style humor, neurotic pauses, phrasal awkwardness, obvious green screen backdrops, cheap effects, and dull action sequences. Director Travis Knight (Bumblebee (2018)) puts everything together at a hectic pace and occasionally shows genuine enthusiasm for the OTT source material. He is invested to show a extraterrestrial Conan battling a mystical skull placed on a bodybuilder’s body but his near-origin story ticks every single point of a hero’s odyssey in an unremarkable manner. In other words, novelty is not the movie’s forte.
A sense of course correction is also lurking in the shadows. Made during a time where corpo-waving pronouns, diversity, and “toxic masculinity” were deemed popular concepts to educate modern audiences, their presence - thank God - is not as strong (or preachy) in the final cut. Nevertheless, figments of this ideology do appear around the use of brute force and understanding of one’s feelings, which is another way of saying that you can’t have a ripped guy simply saving the world. This explains why Skeletor’s quest for ultimate power is a mask (or metaphor) for his own insecurity (which he so laughably monologues about), and a reason for treating everyone like dirt, especially his second in command, Evil-Lyn (a completely wasted Alison Brie).
Interestingly enough, the film is more alive in its first half opening strongly with Skeletor’s assault to Eternia and Adam’s struggles to fit in a present-day Oklahoma city (although how he was raised and by whom is a mystery). When we finally relocate to his home world, we are being told it is a place of unparalleled beauty, yet it looks like every other recent and generic fantasy flick. The implementation of unconvincing backdrops and digi doubles renders this reboot cheap even if the production budget is estimated to be between $170-200 million. Considering the parade of colorful, dubiously named characters (Fisto(!), Ram-Man(!)) with extraordinary abilities, the action is pretty blunt featuring the usual slo-mo jumps, superhero landings, John Wick-esque one takes. It is amusing how with all the technology and resources available today Hollywood conjures up less exciting flying chases than those seen decades earlier in Return of the Jedi (1983) or Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997).
Thus, it is up to the expansive cast to sell us this new take of He-Man (along with a witty cameo). They almost make it work when you exclude the cliche-ridden dialogue (“You may have the power but you are too scared to use it!“) of 4 screenwriters(!). Nicolas Galitzine portrays Adam/He-Man as a likeable hero charismatically waltzing while Camila Mendes and Idris Elba are perfect representations of a generic sidekick and mentor respectively. Jared Leto, on the other hand, tries too hard to create an on-screen presence but he is all bark and no bite, with his supposedly on-the-joke line delivery held back by a script that limits his physical and magical prowess, another misfire after his Joker, Morbius (2022), and the Tron franchise (1982-2025).
Masters of the Universe does have a few good moments here and there but it needed a more thrilling approach to its action and a total surrender to its surrealistic world of space sword-and-sorcery. Deprived of a charismatic villainous performance the same way Tom Hiddleston did in The Avengers (2012) or Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008), it can scream all it wants about having the power. But if it is the power of a nine-year-old boy, well, you can’t do much with that now can you?
I have the (mediocre) power!
+Good cast
+Solid pace in the first half
+Strong opening
-Banal action
-Generic fantasy flick
-Leto’s underperforms (again)
-Wasted Brie
-Mediocre effects, cinematography