Masters of the Universe (1987)

Director: Gary Goddard

Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella

Run Time: 106 mins

Certificate: PG

 

Plot Outline: On the war-torn planet of Eternia, Castle of Greyskull is coming under threat from the evil Skeletor who wants to rule the planet. A group of freedom fighters, led by the heroic He-Man are accidentally transported to Earth by a mysterious key, which holds the power to make Skeletor practically invincible. Once on Earth, He-Man and his friends team up with two teenagers as they attempt to find the key and return home. However, Skeletor and his henchmen are soon hot on their trail.

The Review: For anyone who loved the cartoon as kid, this is like a dream come true. However, Masters of the Universe could have been a LOT better if had stuck to the ideas and characters from the kick-ass TV series. Instead it tries to rip off Star Wars at every possible opportunity: Skeletor's death/The Emperor's death, the black soldiers/Stormtroopers, the Imperial march-esque music for Skeletor, the duel between He-Man and Skeletor/the lightsabre battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker......there are too many ideas that have been blatantly copied because they were effective in the Star Wars films. Having said that, there are still some good points about this film. The special effects are top notch and we get some weird-looking henchmen from Skeletor (I would have liked to have seen more of the TV series henchmen in this like Mer-Man, Trap Jaw and Jujitsu instead of some newly created losers like Karg and Saurod). It is hard to judge Dolph Lundgren in this film. He looks like He-Man and has the build for it. But his dialogue was kept to a minimum: a) because he has a recognisable accent and b) he can't act! If you didn't know what this film was about, you would mistake him for one of the supporting actors with his lack of dialogue. However Frank Langella makes up for Lundgren's poor show with an outstanding performance as Skeletor. He is like the Emperor in form, but has the sting and vicious side that Vader had in the original Star Wars. Langella hams it up at times but you never get the sense that Skeletor is a camp bad guy. It is also worth watching for two early appearances from Courteney Cox and Robert Duncan McNeil (Tom Paris from Star Trek: Voyager). The whole idea of going to Earth was also a mistake in my opinion. It made the monsters scarier though - rather than being in a distant galaxy, they are on Earth, brutally attacking people and destroying whatever they come across. But I would have liked to have seen more of Eternia: an ideal chance for some more special effects and weird and wonderful characters. But it didn't happen, obviously for budgetary reasons. And finally, why did He-Man kick Skeletor's ass at the end, despite the fact that Skeletor was now a god with the power of Greyskull in him? I thought that was the whole purpose of taking over the castle so he could be almost invincible? Yet He-Man kicked his ass again.

Final Verdict: Masters of the Universe could have been a landmark science fiction film if it had gone its own way and included more of the mythology and characters from the TV series. Maybe we could have been looking at the best film based on a TV series? But instead we get an inferior Star Wars clone. And you have to question the cheek of the producers at the end with Skeletor's return, saying "I'll Be Back." Over 13 years later and we're still waiting.

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