{"id":14566,"date":"2026-06-06T01:36:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14566"},"modified":"2026-06-06T01:36:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:36:49","slug":"masters-of-the-universe-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/06\/06\/masters-of-the-universe-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Masters of the Universe (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Masters of the Universe<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Fantasy-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 140 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of violence\/action, some suggestive material, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Travis Knight\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee and David Callaham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fabian Wagner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 5, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley, Morena Baccarin, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Jon Xue Zhang, Sam C. Wilson, James Wilkinson, Christiaan Bettridge, Sasheer Zamata, Christian Vunipola, Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Eire Farrell, Kristen Wiig (voice), Gary Martin (voice), Tom Wilton (voice).<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing the following sentence. The new Masters of the Universe<\/strong> is a good movie. I know, I\u2019m as shocked as you are. I was expecting a total train wreck.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Perhaps I ought to elaborate. Masters of the Universe<\/strong> is good in the sense that it doesn\u2019t feel completely hollow like so many big-budget blockbuster hopefuls these days. It\u2019s a mess, but fun at the same time. I would describe it as goofy. It never takes itself too seriously. It just wants to entertain which brings up an interesting point. Who exactly is the intended audience? Is it the oldsters who grew up watching it in the 80s or youngsters who probably have no idea who He-Man and Skeletor are? Maybe it\u2019s both; I really don\u2019t know. All I do know is that nobody was clamoring for it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was a teen in the 80s so I never actually watched the animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-85). It was for kids. I did enjoy the cheesy 1987 movie Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lundgren (who cameos in the new film) as heroic He-Man and Frank Langella as his nemesis Skeletor. Why wouldn\u2019t I like it? It\u2019s from Cannon. Need I say more? I never thought for a minute I\u2019d actually enjoy this Masters of the Universe<\/strong>, but I really did. I\u2019d even say it\u2019s the best new release this weekend. I\u2019m not being facetious either.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The plot is fairly simple. After a 15-year absence, Adam Glenn (Galitzine, The Sheep Detectives) returns home to free Eternia from the tyrannical rule of the evil warlock Skeletor (Leto, Tron: Ares) and claim his rightful place as heir to the throne. It took him a long time to get home because he lost the \u201cSword of Power\u201d after he was sent to Earth through a magic portal as a child. When he finally finds it, it sends an alert to Skeletor who sends one of his associates, a vicious creature called Beast Man, to retrieve it. It also alerts Adam\u2019s childhood friend Teela (Mendes, Riverdale) who shows up to save his ass and get him back to Eternia.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The rest of Masters of the Universe<\/strong> is basically Adam discovering his powers (he can transform into a buff hero in a loin cloth) and rallying the troops to make a final stand against Skeletor and the evil sorceress Evil-Lyn (Brie, Together). As you can see, it\u2019s a no-brainer and I don\u2019t mean that as a criticism. I just mean it doesn\u2019t try to be deep by delving into the psychology of the characters although most people on Earth who know Adam think he might be crazy. Surely, he can\u2019t really be from another planet, can he?<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have to give props to any movie that gives a shout-out to Highlander (1986), one of the greatest fantasy films of the 80s. It references it twice actually. The first is an off-hand comment; the second is when Queen\u2019s \u201cPrinces of the Universe\u201d plays while the heroes get ready to go to war. It gets better. Brian May contributes his signature guitar solos and riffs to the soundtrack. SWEET! That just makes Masters of the Universe<\/strong> so much cooler.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I do have one complaint about Masters of the Universe<\/strong>. It\u2019s Jared Leto. He\u2019s not a good Skeletor. He never comes off as truly evil or malevolent. He comes off as ridiculous even for this movie. What was he thinking when he was deciding to play the character? Frank Langella knew the material was silly, but he still played it straight (enough). I could see his Skeletor scaring smaller children. I don\u2019t see that with Leto. He just looks like a buffoon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now I could sit here and criticize Galitzine\u2019s acting, but what\u2019s the point? It\u2019s not like Dolph Lundgren was some sort of master thespian. He\u2019s not. It was fun seeing him play He-Man. All things considered, Galitzine isn\u2019t too bad in the role. He tries to do more than Dolph did with it in \u201987. When we catch up with adult Adam, he\u2019s an office drone working at a Human Resources company for a boss (SNL\u2019s Zamata) who does little more than recite platitudes while smiling a phony smile. He has no real social life outside of failed first dates (NOT the time to discuss your interplanetary background) and interactions with a roommate who not-so-secretly enjoys chick flicks. I suppose the writers (all four of them) could have done worse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The supporting cast, which includes Idris Elba (the Thor movies) as Man-at-Arms Duncan and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool 1-3) as the Sorceress, looks like they\u2019re having a ball. Why spoil the party? Kristin Wiig contributes her voice to Roboto, a giant \u201cHeroic Warrior\u201d robot reprogrammed to be a domestic due to attacking her creator Duncan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The special effects in Masters of the Universe<\/strong> are definitely cheesy although not on the level of the OG movie. No, these effects cost money, roughly $200M. At the same time, they look cheap. I think that\u2019s by design. Director Travis Knight (Bumblebee) appears to be trying to recreate the campiness of the 1987 version. And believe me, this Masters of the Universe<\/strong> is campy. It also has some good action sequences including a chase right out of Return of the Jedi (minus the Ewoks).<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll leave it at this. I thoroughly enjoyed Masters of the Universe<\/strong>. I really believed I was in for an excruciating, head-splitting experience. I had my Extra Strength Tylenol all ready. I was pleasantly surprised by it instead. I had so much fun watching it. Not all of it is great. Some of it is dumb, but He-Man isn\u2019t actually an exercise in intellect, is it? It\u2019s a solid summer movie.<\/p>\n

P.S. Be sure to stick around for three extra scenes during the end credits. I won\u2019t tell you about them. I want you to be surprised. I will say fans will appreciate at least two of them.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Masters of the Universe (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Fantasy-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 140 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of violence\/action, some suggestive material, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Travis Knight\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee and David Callaham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fabian Wagner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 5, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Masters-of-the-Universe-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14570,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14566\/revisions\/14570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}