‘Masters of the Universe’ review: Nicholas Galitzine headlines an exhausting Jokey He-Man film intended primarily for hardcore fans

New creators Masters of the universe The movie really wants to tell you that they’re in on the joke. Deep down they know, or at least they do He should Learn that their event material is only suitable for bloated kids or teens with a terminal case of childhood nostalgia. So director Travis Knight (bumblebee, Kobo and Monday Chains) and his quartet of screenwriters load the proceedings with so much self-referential humor that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The film ends up feeling a lot like one of those fringe festival musical theater parodies, where you find yourself waiting for the characters to burst into song.

All of this would fit well with a fan base who grew up playing with Mattel toys and then indulged in the countless spin-offs, including comic books and animated TV series, that followed. The packed house at the preview screening, greeted with swag including free tote bags and action figures, certainly roared with approval, especially at the film’s myriad of Easter eggs, cameos, etc. But it’s hard to imagine that viewers aren’t already immersed in the film universe Find this an attractive entry point.

Nicholas Galitzine (The idea of ​​you), who undergoes the familiar ritual of promising young actors hyping themselves up to land a movie role, works hard — very hard — to imbue his character with an endearing sense of humor. After an opening scene in which young Prince Adam (Artie Wilkinson Hunt) sees his beloved planet Eternia invaded by the evil Skeleton (Jared Leto) and his minions, we encounter him as an Earthling stuck in an HR job terrorizing dates with tales of how he hopes to be reunited with his royal parents if only he can find his Sword of Power.

Spoiler alert, he found the sword in a sci-fi shop elsewhere. After being attacked by a strange creature, he reunites with his childhood friend Teyla (Camila Mendes, Riverdale), now a badass adult takes him back to Eternia. Unfortunately, things don’t go well there, with Skeletor and the witch Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie, who is auditioning to play Cruella de Vil in the next part of the reboot of 101 Dalmatians) The official and Teyla’s warrior father Duncan (Idris Elba) is now a drunken wreck.

It takes a while, seemingly forever, for Clark Kent, I mean Prince Adam, to fully access the power of his sword by uttering that magical phrase “With the power of Grayskull!” He transforms into He-Man, ditching his alien clothes and replacing them with a loincloth while the camera lingers over his abs. Take part in the resulting epic battles as He-Man – alongside allies like Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), Ram Man (Jon Xue Zhang) and Mekaneck (James Wilkinson) – battles Skeletor and his forces for control of Eternia.

Joining the battle are lovable characters like the wise-cracking Roboto (voiced by Kristen Wiig) and the green-striped tiger He-Man, who has a little bit of cheese. “Next time I’ll definitely wear the armor,” the tiger declares just before going into battle. The Enchantress (Morena Baccarin) appears during particularly tense moments to provide magical support.

There’s more and more, as the film seems to incorporate every character that has ever been part of the series, whether to please long-time fans or make sure toy store shelves are fully stocked for Christmas.

On the one hand, it’s admirable that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. But the relentless joke would have worked better if the material had actually been funny. From the moment Prince Adam starts narrating Prince Adam’s self-parody, the jokes are so lame that they become cringe-worthy. There’s a running joke about Adam’s roommate secretly watching tear-jerking movies and hiding his tears when Adam shows up, which seems like something left over from an ’80s sitcom. When Adam tries to prove his true identity to several infidels on his home planet, he shows them his driver’s license.

Dialogue is even worse than that. “Why is he doing this?” Adam asks Teela sadly when he first saw the planetary devastation caused by the skeleton. “Because it’s bad,” she replies. Well, duh. During one intense battle, one character shouts, “He saved us!” Only to change it to “We failed!” After a second.

In an attempt to rally the troops, He-Man shouted at Macho Fisto, “How many seats do you have?”

“What is a bench?” Fisto responds confusedly.

In an exciting confrontation with Skeletor, He-Man tries to reason with the villain who has a skull for a head. “Maybe you weren’t loved enough when you were a kid,” he suggests gently.

In between the bits of Borscht Belt humor are plenty of action scenes, directed by Knight in the frenetic fashion typical of comic book movies, accompanied by Daniel Pemberton’s bombastic score that features raucous doses of rock guitar from Brian May. But the kinetic chaos feels more chore than exhilaration, with nothing really at stake.

The performers seem to be enjoying themselves as they go through their ridiculous steps, although it’s all too easy to imagine them exploding when the director shouts “cut.” Leto, who sports a vaguely British accent, provides some fun moments as Skeletor. Let’s assume this is Leto, of course, since his voice is disguised and we never see his features. Nice job if you can get it.

Masters of the universe It touches all the fan service rules, with a fun cameo by a certain star from a previous film incarnation and enough post-credit sequences to warrant several sequels. But the whole thing seems very forced, as if everyone involved is actually trying to figure out how much they’ll earn from signing autographs at future Comic-Cons.