This was an interesting ride. I certainly didn’t go into the theater with high hopes. A story that attempts to cut its way between the source content and the current cultural climate has a narrow path to follow, with disaster on each side. But you know what? Every time it felt like they were going to step off the path on one side or another, they pulled it back, and in the end, in a meta sort of way, they addressed both elephants in the room and then said, “You know what, we didn’t want to punch our way out of this, but some faces just need to be hit.” And they did. And it was glorious.

Acting

Nicholas Galitzine was a really good choice as Adam. The character is a bit like the skinny Steve Rogers transforming into Captain America, except they didn’t make Galitzine as scrawny as pre-Cap. I’m sure that was a consideration, but it would have come at a production cost, so they just put a baggy shirt on Galitzine and hoped it worked–barely. I like the job that Galitzine did. Again, he’s not going to win any awards, but this isn’t exactly a simple role to play. Just because he turns into a god-like superhero doesn’t mean there’s not some acting going on.

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Idris Elba plays a version of that role that he plays so incredibly often: Heimdall, General Pentecost, and about a half dozen others. I love seeing Idris do his thing, but I’d also like to see more not-Heimdall roles for him.

Pacing

It lagged a bit here and there, and I’ve heard others complain that it could have been shorter, but honestly, I think cutting anything out would have come at a cost. None of the scenes stood out as overtly gratuitous. It’s easy to say, “The movie could have been shorter,” but when you look at it scene-by-scene, they each stack pretty well. I wouldn’t change anything.

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Awkwardly Villainous Villain

Anyone who has read many of my previous movie reviews will know that I can be harsh on how the villain is depicted. I get it, I’m an aspiring novelist myself, and I understand the challenge of writing great villains. But I’m reviewing Hollywood movies. I expect that anyone who climbs the ladder to writing for a movie like this should be up to the challenge, yet few are. But this is one of the only times I’ve ever seen writers create a genuinely poor villain and then make that work for them. And in a way, they had to. This isn’t a movie that would work with a sympathetic villain. They needed a villain with paper-thin depth and then address that, meta-again, within the story.

Conclusion

I’m impressed that they didn’t crash and burn, but more than that, I’m not dreading the next instalment, which is heavily hinted at in the end-credit scenes. Maybe I’m even looking forward to it a little bit.

Grade: B-

About The Peetimes: Read a synopsis of first 3 minutes of this movie.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Masters of the Universe.

Plot
After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan/Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

Dan Gardner

Creator and developer of the RunPee app. When something doesn’t work right in the app it’s pretty much his fault. 🙂

Aspiring author. Would like to finish his “Zombie Revelations” trilogy if he could break away for working on RunPee and the cottage he’s building for RunPee Mom.