This film, I’ll admit, didn’t show much promise. It’s a 2026 reboot of material that worked fine in its initial form, as a Mattel toy line, but not as the 1987 movie adapted from it. That pic was a deserved flop (although it has since found an enthusiastic cult following) and the June 2026 release of the present film wasn’t much more successful. What I found most shocking about this new, $170 million budgeted MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is that it isn’t that bad. It certainly has its share of annoyances, but overall, I enjoyed it a fair amount.
It begins on Eternia, a very Pandora-like planet ruled by “The Sorceress” (Morena Baccarin). At its center is the city of Eternos and a “Sword of Power” sought by the skull-faced Lord Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his aptly named sidekick Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie). As Skeletor’s forces invade the kingdom, the 10 year old Adam (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt), the prince of Eternos, ends up with the SoP and is thrust into a STARGATE-like time warp created by the Goddess.
Adam loses the sword in the melee and ends up, for some reason, in Oklahoma City. There he grows into a wimpy young longhair (Nicholas Galitzine) who goes to work in the human resources department of a major corporation (and meets the original MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE star Dolph Lundgren in a gym). But then Adam is led to the whereabouts of the Sword of Power, as part of a display in a comic book shop, and meets up with his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes), who whisks Adam back to Eternia.
The planet is now controlled by Skeletor, who’s opposed by a resistance movement that includes Teela and her military commander father Duncan (Idris Elba). They’re soon joined by a sassy Kristen Wiig voiced battle bot and Adam himself, who points the SoP at the heavens and shouts “By the power of Grayskull!” This causes him to grow muscles, have a skimpy suit of armor appear out of nowhere (to replace his Earthbound hipster outfit) and become the unstoppable He-Man.
The action sequences that follow are impressively choreographed, if overly CGI reliant, amid very AVATAR-esque landscapes (and copious plugs for the film’s parent studio Amazon). This being a 2026 product, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the filmmakers are deeply concerned with showing their hero’s soft side (Adam/He-Man telling Skeletor that his behavior is “maybe because you weren’t loved enough as a child” must be counted among the most cringeable lines in modern cinema). Also expected is the smart-assed pop culture inflected (i.e. Joss Whedon-like) sense of humor that pervades the film.
Faring much better is the music score, which takes the form of an extended rock ballad by Brian May of Queen. Directly recalled is that band’s famous score for FLASH GORDON (1980), a connection furthered by the use of the 1986 Queen tune “Princes of the Universe” in a climactic scene.
Vital Statistics
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
Amazon/Metro Goldwyn Mayer/Mattel
Director: Travis Knight
Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Robbie Brenner, Devon Franklin
Screenplay: Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, Dave Callaham
Cinematography: Fabian Wagner
Editing: Paul Rubell
Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Sam C. Wilson, Charlotte Riley, Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto, Idris Elba, Sasheer Zamata, Jon Xue Zhang, Christian Vunipola, Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Eire Farrell, James Wilkinson, Dolph Lundgren