Masters of the Universe review: A perfect fantasy movie that fixes Hollywood's worst habit

What more could you want?

To paraphrase Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the hierarchy of power in Hollywood is about to change. Last weekend, The Mandalorian and Grogu lost at the box office to a pair of low-budget horror movies, marking the first time in Hollywood history that a Star Wars movie slipped from the #1 box office spot in its second week of release. To pour salt on the wound, IMAX responded by booting Baby Yoda out of some of its theaters earlier than planned to clear the way for another big-budget blockbuster: Masters of the Universe.

The irony is particularly rich because Mattel originally created the Masters of the Universe toyline to compete with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader after passing on the licensing rights to Star Wars in 1977.Now, after almost five decades living in the Death Star's shadow, the sword-wielding, leather skirt-wearing hero known as He-Man may finally eclipse the franchise he was born to compete with.

From the colorful landscapes of Eternia to the vivid recreations of ‘80s armored warriors to the crisp and clear action sequences enhanced by Industrial Light & Magic, everything about Masters of the Universe is stunning to behold. So before Hollywood learns the wrong lesson from this summer and starts pumping out dark, creepypasta adaptations instead, take advantage of what might be your last chance to experience the magic of big-budget maximalist sci-fi fantasy spectacle for a very long time.

Masters of the Universe opens in Eternia, a sci-fi fantasy planet somewhere deep in space far from Earth where an army of heroes guards Castle Grayskull and the Sword of Power within it. At the beginning of the movie, Prince Adam is a scrawny young boy, and when the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) suddenly shows up to take over the kingdom, Adam flees to Earth with the sword to keep its power away from the power-hungry villain.

Except, Adam loses the sword and winds up trapped in suburban America for a decade. We meet him again as a twentysomething (now played by Nicholas Galitzine) working a soul-crushing HR job. Pretty quickly, however, Adam finds the Sword of Power and is soon swept up into a glorious adventure where he returns to Eternia, reunites with his old friends and heroes, and fights to reclaim the kingdom from Skeletor and his evil army.

Masters of the Universe rolls along a pretty generic hero’s journey, which Knight tricks out with his animator-brained visual style. His team renders Eternia as a vibrant fantasy world full of medieval architecture and majestic forests — picture Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy with a technicolor Saturday morning cartoon filter. Castle Grayskull is an absurdist brick bastion shaped like a literal skull. The battle armor is brightly colored and form-fitting. Battle Cat looks like a badass green lion you could literally ride into battle. The entire experience feels like traveling inside the over-stimulated brain of a 12-year-old boy who just spent four hours watching toy commercials and eating sugary cereal. In other words: it rules.

Knight’s movie is a rejection of everything that modern blockbusters have become. Every detail is meticulously crafted. Every CGI creature looks beautiful and otherworldly, and the practical effects look even better; visceral and weighty. Even an early fight scene set on a highway back on Earth is more dynamic than your average Marvel third-act CGI slop-fest.

The action, in particular, is breathtaking. The combat feels grounded and heavy, even when a character named Ram Man uses his sci-fi magic to launch headfirst into enemies. A chase through the forest on spaceships at the movie’s midpoint is downright mind-blowing in how sharp it looks even as Adam zooms through Eternia at breakneck speeds. Knight frames each shot perfectly to capture the chaos of the chase while also making sure you never lose sight of his hero or the other characters and ships all racing across the screen.

Even Skeletor looks awesome (assuming you can get past the whole Jared Leto thing). Knight uses a mix of CGI for the face and prosthetics for the body to create an instantly iconic take on the already iconic villain. Leto more than delivers with a campy performance that keeps the movie fun and light whenever it threatens to get even the slightest bit serious. Skeletor is the part of this movie that I, and many others, were most worried about, and it feels like a small miracle that Leto and Knight absolutely nailed the character.

Of course, there’s more to Masters of the Universe than how it looks. The performances are all great, with Galitzine rising to the challenge — and putting on convincing muscle — to lead an action-packed action-figure blockbuster. Despite two-dimensional origins, the film is littered with nuanced performances. Idris Elba remains undeniably cool, even when he’s the comic relief. Camilla Mendes’s a badass warrior never breaks while heavy lifting exposition). Alison Brie is a campy scene-stealer as Evil-Lyn. After knocking it out with Project Hail Mary and The Drama, composer Daniel Pemberton, with an assist from Queen legend Brian May, delivers unadulterated stadium rock glory.

It all comes together to create something both unique and familiar. Masters of the Universe feels like a movie from a bygone era: big dumb action-adventure spectacles that actually look good and aren't afraid to take themselves too seriously. It’s the kind of thing Hollywood rarely makes anymore, and probably won’t again unless He-Man defies the box office gods. But that's looking increasingly unlikely. So you might as well enjoy it while you can, on the biggest IMAX screen you can find.

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Masters of the Universe releases in theaters on June 5.