Masters of the Universe (2016)

Why all the hate for the funny, fast paced and campy new take on MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE? Self-aware and packed with big laughs, it's an instant all-time guilty pleasure that I am shocked bombed with audiences.

I went in prepared to roll my eyes and be bored to death after reading all the critics lambasting it as overlong and dull.

It's neither! At two hours and 20 minutes, it's not short, but I was having way too much fun to ever be bored.

I certainly knew of the He-Man toys back in the day and absolutely did roll my eyes at the Dolph Lundgren/Frank Langella, CANNON films b-movie back in 1987. But the two leads had some moments and did what they could with the very limited resources that 80's schlockmeister producers Golan & Globus gave them.

This time out, MGM/Amazon has dropped $170 million on the production and it looks fantastic from start to finish.

With all due respect to Mr. Lundgren, Nicholas Galitzine IS He-Man. He's jacked and packed with as many great comedic line deliveries as he is muscles. Serving as our narrator for the film's opening history lesson on growing up as a young Prince on Eternos, in Castle Greyskull where his Father, KIng Randor (James Purefoy from "Rome") rules with a gentle hand, Prince Adam doesn't show any early signs of being a capable warrior.

When Skeletor descends on Eternos, bringing a thousand evil creatures with him, The King and Queen ask their Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) to whisk Adam away to Earth through a wormhole holding the Sword of Power.

We meet him 15 years later, now in his mid 20's. Galitzine is hilarious, stuck working in an HR department with a bunch of tattletales. He spends most of his days online, looking for any trace of his Sword, which he dropped as he fell to Earth.

The comedy is constant, adding the same type of self-aware humor that The Avengers films did, but in much bigger doses.

When Adam finally finds that sword, he triggers events that tee up the second half of the film for a non-stop series of battles, square-offs and a few tender moments mixed in with the laughs.

I can't say enough about Galitzine. He's got serious comedic chops and delivers everything you want in the He-Man fight scenes. It's too bad this thing bombed so bad, I'd love to see more of these actors in these roles.

Camila Mendes is excellent as Teela, Adam's childhood friend who's grown up to be a warrior. Her father is Duncan, the former leader of the King's Guard, played by Idris Elba.

Jared Leto has a blast as Skeletor, mixing an upper crust accent with constant frustration about how stupid many of his minons are. Leto's great. Between this and the box office death of "Tron: Ares", Leto seems to have a bit of a black cloud over him, but I really enjoyed him in both films, naysayers be damned.

I love how Adam calls all the former heroes on Eternos by the names he knew them by as a kid. Fisto and RamMan are not too happy about that and double entendres abound for constant laughs.

Again, I don't get the hate for this movie.

It's a visual action feast, roaring with huge musical references (Daniel Pemberton's score is terrific) and easter eggs from the 80's. Just when you think you know where it's going, it doubles down on the humor and nails the punch line.

I loved the scene where our heroes all stand in a circle with their hands on their hips, the top half of their bodies pitched back at a crazy angle as they all belly laugh. It's the perfect, clever allusion to the animated series that all of us of a certain age have stuck in our brains.

The film also gives off some serious vibes of Mike Hodges 1980 camp flick, "Flash Gordon", but this film pulls the camp off with much more style.

When 'Princes of the Universe" by Queen started roaring through the speakers and Brian May's guitar riffs took off in Dolby Cinema, I was in heaven. It's an 80's "Highlander" reference that you'll hear echoed elsewhere in the movie.

There's one great gym set cameo that I won't reveal, but it left me smiling, as did the final battle between He-Man and Skeletor. Their fight took me back to the brutal punches of the Rocky movies. It's a hell of a match!

Oozing with the same kind of huge scale action, wit and sarcasm as the original "Guardians of the Galaxy" film, I was shocked how much I enjoyed this one.

Everyone I know that has actually seen this movie has loved it. How can you not?

It's the perfect summer action blockbuster that no one went to see.

Here's hoping it finds a second life on streaming and beyond so we can see this cast again in these roles. They're one hell of an ensemble that delivers a nostalgic throwback to the fun 80's action flicks that always fired up the summer movie seasons of decades past. It really took me back.

Don't ignore this one, see it on the biggest screen you can find.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE gets my most surprising A so far in 2026.

https://youtu.be/rJSmz-zhDxE?si=HcAcDiUqdQhMFhmH