Masters of the Universe review: Sword and sorcery reboot is missing a spark
The film will be embraced by some as a fun trip down pop culture’s memory lane – but it fails to truly ignite.
Sony Pictures
- Alan Jones
Published: Tuesday, 2 June 2026 at 2:00 pm
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A star rating of 3 out of 5.
Game of Bones! The long-awaited sword and sorcery reboot of the 1980s Mattel action figure line is here, after nearly 20 years under development in various A-list incarnations. Now revived following the fortune made by another Mattel phenomenon — Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar Barbie — He-Man and gang make for a curious bit of nostalgia in the 2020s.
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Unfortunately, toy-movie history likely won’t repeat itself here because, for all its qualities, the final spark to detonate this superficial retread beyond the groan-worthy norms of the blockbuster epic is completely missing.
It begins well. Green tiger Cringer replaces the MGM Studios lion to signal the film’s fun possibilities. And the genesis of the He-Man fable is painted in day-glo, Shrek-like broad strokes as we see the peaceful intergalactic Kingdom of Eternia fall to the rule of sadistic warlord Skeletor (Jared Leto). Sent through a space vortex after his royal family is imprisoned, Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) winds up on Earth separated from his emblematic Sword of Power and spends the next 15 years trying to find it again while becoming… a Human Resources officer.
After a marking-time sequence where the comedic potential of Adam telling everyone his unbelievable backstory fails to resonate, our hero finally locates his sword in a comic book shop and is whisked back to Eternia by his old school friend Teela (Camila Mendes), daughter of his father’s man-at-arms Duncan (Idris Elba), now a hopeless drunk. Learning how to use his powers properly (this finding-his-feet segment drags too), Adam joins forces with once-close allies of the King (James Purefoy) to reclaim his legacy, recapture the Grayskull Castle family home and save the universe from the Skeletor menace.
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The flatlined final battle between Adam and Skeletor rams home the weirdly wonky tonal shifts that director Travis Knight (Bumblebee) fails to fashion into a worthy comic-book confection. One moment Adam is in a Skeletor stranglehold; the next, he’s back in the HR office being reprimanded.
The extreme action manoeuvre contrasts are supposed to be funny, but the mix of heavy Mattel and light comedy refuses to work. And don’t get me started on the eye-watering dialogue in relation to hard man Fisto (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson). Did none of the writing team think twice about their punchlines?
The resulting tale offers both a sweet, unabashedly corny sci-fi fantasy and an overly talky, over-extended pantomime that unfortunately takes far too long to crank up its simplistic Good v Evil plot.
Galitzine (The Sheep Detectives) fits the buffed-up lummox bill — even though Prince Valiant would have been a better role model — Mendes makes for the blandest heroine and Elba just about punches above the feather weight of a poorly drawn character. As for Leto’s campy, rubber-encased Skeletor, let’s just say he must have missed the door labelled "Dr Frank-N-Furter Auditions".
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OK, it’s all about cartoon emotions, yawningly obvious culture-clashing, hectic space swashbuckling and, ultimately, selling toys. Yet, Gerwig managed to navigate her way through the Barbie plastic mythology silliness to make potent statements about female solidarity and self-fulfilment. Nothing so inspired is forthcoming here, and considering the brilliance and complexity of Knight’s animated debut feature, 2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings, that’s a major disappointment.
With pointless appearances by Dolph Lundgren (star of the original 1987 film adaptation), Orko the court magician and a couple of instantly forgettable post-credits teasers, Masters of the Universe will be embraced by some as a fun trip down pop culture’s memory lane. For others, it will just about rattle along on rusty Star Wars rails for a few rote, tepid thrills, the main heavy lifting in the excitement arena coming from Daniel Pemberton’s awesome disco-rock score, complete with guitar riffs courtesy of Brian May.
Masters of the Universe is released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 3 June.
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Alan Jones
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