Masters of the Universe Review: Nostalgia Misses the Mark

The setup is refreshingly clean, and for that, we should be grateful. Fifteen years ago, the infant Prince Adam was smuggled away from a crumbling Eternia to protect him from Skeletor. Now, in present-day California, Adam is a struggling young man - Nicholas Galitzine, all earnest confusion and yearning - who feels out of place in the modern world. He doesn’t remember Eternia. He doesn’t remember the Sword of Power. But the sword remembers him. When it mysteriously manifests in his apartment, Adam is yanked back to his home world, only to find it a blasted, gray wasteland ruled by Skeletor’s iron fist.

The script efficiently reunites Adam with his estranged allies: Teela (Camila Mendes, bringing a welcome, grounded fury), now a hardened resistance fighter, and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba, who can do this kind of paternal stoicism in his sleep). Their mission is straightforward: find the other half of the Sword of Power, unlock the full power of Grayskull, and overthrow the overlord who has turned their home into a monument to skull-themed architecture. The narrative beats are classic hero’s-journey material, but the film has the decency not to overcomplicate them. The enemy is Skeletor. He is evil. He must be stopped.

Knight’s greatest strength is his ability to make worlds feel lived-in. The Eternia we see is a crushed, melancholic place - all cracked marble, grim castles, and perpetual twilight. This is a land that has lost its champion and its color. The visual effects are generally strong, particularly in the design of Skeletor’s minions. Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson) is a practical-CGI hybrid nightmare, all clanking metal and ticking servos, and Ram Man (Jon Xue Zhang) has a wonderfully brutal, kinetic screen presence that recalls a bowling ball with a grudge.

Where the film stumbles is in its tone. The original “Masters of the Universe” was, let’s be honest, a toy commercial with an earnest, goofball heart. Knight plays it largely straight. There are few laughs. The emotional beats - Adam’s guilt over abandoning his father, Teela’s bitterness at being left behind - are played with Shakespearean gravity. This works in isolated moments. Galitzine delivers a genuinely affecting scene of self-doubt while holding the sword, whispering “I don’t know if I’m the man who can do this.” But the film never quite lets itself be fun.

The big elephant in the room is Jared Leto’s Skeletor. Where Frank Langella’s 1987 version was a gleefully theatrical menace, and Alan Oppenheimer’s cartoon gave us a scheming, hilarious villain, Leto goes for something else entirely. He speaks in a low, breathy rasp, his face hidden beneath a masterfully crafted animatronic skull. He is unsettling. He is artsy. He is, unfortunately, rather boring. His grand speeches feel like outtakes from a Zack Snyder “Batman” movie, and when he finally gets to throw a bone-chilling laugh, it feels earned but too delayed. Skeletor needs camp. He needs audience rapport. This version gives us neither.

The action, however, is a bright spot. Knight stages the fights with wide shots and clear geography. When He-Man finally appears - and yes, the transformation sequence is a crowd-pleasing spectacle of lightning and muscle - he moves like a tank, not a dancer. A sequence where he fights Trap Jaw in an underground forge is brutal, inventive, and refreshingly practical. The finale, a clashing of swords and sorcery on the spires of Castle Grayskull, delivers the required spectacle, even if it goes on ten minutes too long.

• Pros:

  • Nicholas Galitzine embodies He-Man’s duality with surprising depth, from puppy-dog Adam to beefcake hero.
  • Travis Knight’s direction brings a tactile, analog weight to the world.
  • The design of Trap Jaw, Ram Man, and Battle Cat (a majestic, terrifying creation) is top-notch.
  • The action sequences are clean, impactful, and fan-service-friendly.
  • A third-act emotional beat between Adam and his father, King Randor, actually lands.

• Cons:

  • Jared Leto’s Skeletor is a moody, self-serious bore who drains energy from every scene.
  • The runtime of 141 minutes is unforgivably long for a story with this kind of narrative simplicity.
  • The film is unsure whether it wants to be a fun adventure or a grim-dark epic, and the tonal whiplash is real.
  • Alison Brie’s Evil-Lyn is woefully underutilized, reduced to a few sneers and magical gestures.

“Masters of the Universe” is a sturdy, well-intentioned adventure that gets the big muscles right but misses the big heart. It treats its source material with more respect than a 1980s toy commercial probably deserves, and for that, Knight deserves credit for trying. But in its quest for cinematic legitimacy, it sanded off the silly edges that made He-Man a beloved icon. The result is a film that looks like He-Man, talks like He-Man, but forgets to crack a smile when it says, “I have the power.” Fans will appreciate the craft. Everyone else might just get by with a shrug and a score of 6.5/10.