Masters of the Universe is surprisingly a riot by the power of Grey Skull writes Carter Smith
Are you He-Man, God of swords? He-Man bears a resemblance to Marvel’s Norse God in the newest film adaptation. Not just because Nicholas Galitzine has the same luscious blonde locks and bulging muscles, but because this journey to receive the power of Grey Skull mirrors Thor’s arc in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Travis Knight must have just finished an MCU watch along before sitting into the director’s chair, because Thor is not the only thing borrowed from the wildly successful cinematic universe.
Many great actors are underutilised; the writing is mixed — hoping you just roll with it and don’t ask too many questions — the vibe is campy and unashamedly rips things straight from the classic 80s TV show, and Adam’s transition into He-Man feels ripped out of The First Avenger when Captain America gets his new body for the first time.
Don’t worry, he decided not to embrace the colour grading and shoddy CGI. Good choice.
Put it this way, it’s less Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania and more Iron Man 2. It’s not gorge your eyes out bad, but it’s also not jump for joy good. A mild head nod will suffice.
Crucially, it lets He-Man be He-Man. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person worried when the trailer showed him in the real world, but it’s only a brief visit. Majority of the time is spent beautiful Eternia and has he-Man flexing his muscles. Galitzine is fun being a goofy fish out of water on Earth, but truly excels when the sword is in his hand.
It all comes back to feeling like an MCU movie. The action is great, Skeletor is the right amount of freak and some story is sacrificed for fan service.
I’d happily welcome more, but this bombed hard. It can sit beside Dungeons and Dragons in surprisingly good adaptations which no one cares about.
- Masters of the Universe is free to watch on Amazon Prime
