He doesn't have the power: kid prince Adam is too weak to stop Skeletor's army from invading and taking over the kingdom of his father, King Randor, while he has to flee to Earth, leaving planet Eternia behind. 15 years later, Adam Glenn works in human resources of an IT company in Oklahoma City, but when he finds his sword of power, his Eternia friend Teela finds him and brings him back to his world. Using the sword, Adam transforms into the powerful He-Man, teams up with Duncan and others, and defeats Skeletor and his assistant Evil-Lyn, thereby restoring the kingdom and freeing the people.
39 years after the first feature length "Masters of the Universe" '87 film, screenwriters Chris Butler, David Callaham, Aaron and Adam Nee restructured the He-Man storyline in the most radical way in this 2nd attempt, but the gamble paid off: this film works better. "Masters of the Universe" walks on the verge of self-parody, but this gives it a dose of freshness and vibrancy, full of references to the original animated show, whereas it even has a delicious cameo by Dolph Lundgren, the original '87 He-Man. There are several questionable choices here—the blend between innocent comedy and some hard-core, intense battle sequences (in a fight at Snake Mountain, He-Man impales henchman Karg with his sword to the wall, goes to fight with Goat Man and throw him from the top of the building, and then returns, retrieves his sword, while Karg falls to the ground) is uneven—whereas the two acting choices for Skeletor and He-Man are not entirely convincing—Jared Leto's voice is so scary and psychotic that his jokes almost don't come across; Nicholas Galitzine is neither muscular nor charming enough. However, while Lundgren's He-Man is better physically looking in the '87 film, Galitzine's He-Man has the better personality, since he is given a character arc of being true to himself, which makes him a three-dimensional character.
Some outrageous jokes are wonderful, and outflank the clichés. For instance, after a deadly-serious 20-minute opening sequence, which shows how Skeletor's army invaded the kingdom on Eternia and 10-year old Adam fled to Earth, there is a fabulous cut—to a grown up Adam, in a suit, talking to a woman, his date, in a restaurant: "Anyway, that's how I ended up in Oklahoma City! How about you, Julie, is your family from around here?" Genius. Another funny bit involves Adam working at an office, but then storming out upon hearing the news that someone found his magic sword, so his boss, who is ultra-politically correct, says to him: "Adam, if you walk out that door, you can kiss this place goodbye!... Consensually." The director Travis Knight even inserted a joke regarding the Internet meme of Prince Adam in tune to the song "What's Going On" in the sequence where Beast-Man first shows up, and Adam is in the police car while said song plays in the background. The two best performances are by the excellent Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn and Camila Mendes as Teela. In one very amusing moment, just as He-Man is about to attack, he is "frozen" by Evil-Lyn's spell, who just recites random magic words, which just go on and on, until Skeletor finally interrupts her by coughing: "That will do, Evil-Lyn. He's frozen". The augmented humor works for the cynics, while the finely choreographed battle sequences work for action seeking viewers, and even though these two disparate elements don't work together, the viewers will at least enjoy one half of them in this surprisingly entertaining movie: "Conan the Barbarian" meets Mel Brooks.
Grade:++
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