Masters of the Universe should have been huge.
The potential was right there for a truly epic He-Man movie. The characters look surprisingly good, the special effects are much better than expected, and the fight scenes actually deliver when the movie allows them to breathe.
Unfortunately, Masters of the Universe is also a massive misfire.
Instead of fully embracing the testosterone-driven fantasy adventure fans have wanted for decades, the movie turns into a try-hard, Marvel-style quip machine packed with forced jokes, undercutting humor, mixed messaging, and the usual modern Hollywood baggage.
For a movie about the most powerful man in the universe, it spends way too much time making him look like anything but.
The verdict: Great cast, great designs, genuinely good effects and fight scenes, but they’re all buried under forced quips, muddled messaging, and a hero the movie refuses to let be a hero. There’s an epic He-Man movie trapped in here, and it only breaks free for about 30 seconds. Rating: 5/10.
Note: Spoilers follow.
Masters of the Universe Had The Look, But Not The Power
Masters of the Universe is based on the classic 1980s cartoon featuring He-Man, the Masters of the Universe, and their battle against Skeletor and the evil forces threatening Eternia. The premise is simple enough: Prince Adam wields the Power Sword and transforms into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe.
The movie is now in theaters, including IMAX and premium format screenings. Judging by my Thursday preview screening, tickets should not be hard to come by. Only six seats were sold.
The cast is stacked. Nicholas Galitzine plays Prince Adam, Camila Mendes plays Teela, Idris Elba plays Duncan / Man-At-Arms, Jared Leto plays Skeletor, Morena Baccarin plays The Sorceress, Kristen Wiig voices Roboto, and the movie features a wide lineup of familiar characters from the franchise. The only casting I didn’t like was that Alison Brie plays Evil-Lyn, but that could be because of what she was given.
To be fair, the characters look good. A lot of them look very close to their cartoon counterparts, and the movie clearly put real effort into the visual side of things. The armor, the creatures, the villains, the weapons, the Eternia set pieces, and the overall design work are not the problem.
Galitzine also does a decent job with what he is given. Mendes is fine as Teela. Elba is solid when the script lets him be. Leto’s Skeletor looks awesome. Even the supporting characters are fun to see brought to life.
The problem is everything around them.
The movie is too long. The opening is too long. The Earth material is cringe and goes on too long, and they actually circle back to it at the end in even more cringe-worthy fashion. Worst of all, it takes way too much time before the movie finally gets to He-Man in a way that feels satisfying.
There is a better cut of this movie somewhere. The one in theaters is not it.
He-Man Gets Undercut In His Own Movie
One of the biggest problems with Masters of the Universe is how it treats its male characters.
Young Prince Adam is a loser. Grown Adam is a loser. Even when he becomes He-Man, the movie keeps undercutting him. Idris Elba’s Duncan is not really the Man-At-Arms fans know from the cartoon. He goes from being the King’s guard to a drunk, broken-down version of himself, and at one point he even tells his daughter Teela she is a better “man” than him.
Seriously.
Meanwhile, Teela is the badass who constantly mocks Adam. She gets to yell at her useless dad. Roboto is now female, voiced by Kristen Wiig, and also gets in on demeaning the boys. Christiaan Bettridge’s Dian falls into the same pattern.
Even Skeletor is not safe from it. The anti-male quips extend to him as well, with Evil-Lyn taking part and giving him those “concerning” glances, as if even the main villain needs to be managed, mocked, or quietly corrected. It is another example of the movie refusing to let any male character, hero or villain, fully own the room.
The movie tries to make a point about Adam learning what it means to be a man, but the message is all over the place.
On one hand, the after-school-special lesson at the end says being a man is not about muscles. On the other hand, the movie also seems to be saying Adam needs to stop being weak and start kicking ass. Teela even uses the word “pussy” when talking to Cringer, and Man-At-Arms has a similar “be a man” moment when he is “reborn.”
Those ideas could have worked if the movie had the guts to lean into them properly. Instead, it gets buried under feelings, quips, and mixed messaging.
Even Adam’s big heroic arc gets watered down. He does not really need the Power Sword anymore because the power is “inside” him. After he kills his own father, he still decides to give Skeletor a chance to talk things out.
How cute.
The movie wants He-Man to be powerful, sensitive, funny, broken, reluctant, modern, classic, masculine, and deconstructed all at once. The result is a big mess.
The Earth Setting Was A Red Flag
My first red flag with Masters of the Universe was the Earth setting.
In this version, Eternia is attacked and defeated by Skeletor, so 10-year-old Adam is sent to Earth with the sword to escape. It is basically Superman all over again. Watching the opening, it was hard not to think of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Funny enough, Fabian Wagner is the director of photography on the movie, and he previously worked as Zack Snyder’s cinematographer on Zack Snyder’s Justice League. At least that helps explain why some of the action and fight scenes look so good.
Once Adam is on Earth, things take a turn for the worse.
He lives with a man-bun-wearing hipster roommate. His desk has pronouns. His boss is a DEI caricature. The movie opens with a woke corporate meeting about feelings where everyone repeats, “I have the power,” and it is not just a cheap gag. It is the movie tipping its hand early, because by the end, Adam does not really need the Power Sword. The power was inside him all along (eyeroll).
From there, the movie keeps trying to be funny in ways that rarely land.
The worst part is how the jokes undercut every big moment. Any time something cool or serious happens, the movie immediately throws in a dumb quip to make sure the audience never sits with it.
When He-Man finally says, “By the Power of Grayskull! I have the power!” it actually works. The moment is epic, awesome, and exactly what fans came to see. But instead of building on it, the movie immediately undercuts the scene with another dumb joke, killing the momentum right when it should be going bigger.
James Gunn does this. Marvel does this. Masters of the Universe does it even harder.
Because the movie is so goofy and joke-heavy, two major character deaths fall flat. The emotion is not there because the movie never lets the story get serious long enough to matter.
The Fisto jokes worked. Those were funny. That should have been enough. Not every character needed to be a joke machine.
Eventually, I just thought to myself: this is just stupid.
The Music Choices Are Another Misfire
The music is another problem.
The movie uses 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” during the first Earth battle scene, and it does not fit at all. It feels like another attempt to copy the ironic needle-drop style every blockbuster thinks it needs now.
Then the movie starts throwing in Highlander references (I love Highlander).
Adam gets arrested with the sword, one cop makes a Highlander joke, and another cop tries to make the same joke but does not know what to say. It goes nowhere, just like 90% of the comedy and jokes in the movie.
Then they actually use Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” from the Highlander soundtrack.
It is an awesome song. He-Man uses a sword. Highlander uses a sword. Naturally, you would think the movie would use the song while He-Man is doing something epic — with the sword!
Nope.
Misfire.
It is also an odd choice since Henry Cavill is filming a new Highlander movie, which is expected to use Queen’s music. Why let Masters of the Universe use it here in such a throwaway way?
Another little thing that bugged me: Tri-Klops is in the movie, but he never spins his visor to use his other eyes. There is even a line where he says something like, “I’ve got my eyes on them.” He should have said, “I’ve got my EYE on them.”
Again, misfire.
Jared Leto’s Skeletor Looks Great, But Leans Too Hard Into The Bit
Jared Leto’s Skeletor is one of the more frustrating parts of the movie because the look is excellent.
Skeletor looks awesome. The design works. The character has presence. Visually, the movie gets him right.
Skeletor has also always been a loud, theatrical villain. He talks. He rants. He insults people. That is part of the character.
The problem is not that Skeletor talks. The problem is this version leans too hard into drawn-out villain speeches, Shakespeare-style delivery, and the modern Skeletor meme stuff. At times, it is hard to even understand what he is saying.
There are also more gay jokes and innuendos thrown in during his scenes with Adam and He-Man, because apparently even Skeletor cannot be allowed to just be threatening without the movie winking at the audience.
Less would have been more. Think Darth Vader. Let the look, the voice, and the presence do more of the work.
The movie also leans way too heavily into the Skeletor memes. Yes, those memes are famous, and one quick nod would have been fine. But going back to that well numerous times makes Skeletor feel less like a serious villain and more like the movie is chasing internet jokes for cheap laughs.
The Ending Finally Shows The He-Man Movie Fans Wanted
The most frustrating thing about Masters of the Universe is the ending.
For a brief moment, the movie finally becomes the He-Man movie fans wanted. It gets epic. The original cartoon music kicks in. He-Man finally feels like He-Man. The energy is there. The nostalgia works. The action works.
It is awesome.
Then it is over in about 30 seconds.
After that, the movie cuts to a mid-credit scene where Orko delivers more messaging about feelings and how men do not need muscles (eyeroll).
We get it.
The real “bestest” part comes in another post-credit scene when She-Ra is revealed.
She looks great! She is shown as the ultimate badass! She also looks a lot like Supergirl?! And she appears to be on some battle-worn planet, likely carrying lots of trauma! Similar to James Gunn’s Supergirl!
So while He-Man spends most of his own movie being undercut (just like Gunn did with his Superman!), She-Ra gets introduced as the real powerhouse!
Of course.
Masters of the Universe Review: Final Thoughts
Masters of the Universe could have been truly epic.
The characters were there. The designs were there. The effects were there. The fight scenes were there. The movie had all the pieces needed to deliver a big, fun, fantasy action movie built around He-Man kicking ass.
Instead, Hollywood did what Hollywood keeps doing.
They took a classic male-driven franchise, softened the lead, loaded the script with forced jokes, added confused messaging, and spent too much time trying to make Masters of the Universe something other than what fans wanted.
The movie is not a complete disaster because the visuals, characters, and action do have moments that work. But those moments only make the missed opportunity more obvious.
Masters of the Universe is a massive misfire. Rating: 5/10.
For more, see our Masters of the Universe Rotten Tomatoes score breakdown.
