Masters of the Universe (1987)
Starting off as a top-selling line of toys (primarily action figures) made by Mattel in the early 1980s, “The Masters of the Universe” proved to be immensely popular throughout the decade, spawning several animated television cartoon series and a major motion picture release in 1987, one of many films of its era to spin-off from the toy world first (The Transformers: The Movie, The Care Bears Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.), though one of the first to do so in a live-action format. Unfortunately, the movie, made by the popular B-movie film house, the Cannon Group (who stepped into the production when the original producers, RKO Pictures, grew disinterested), proved to be the beginning of the end for He-Man’s rabid popularity. The film was a critical misfire and feeble commercial venture, although the franchise as a whole has re-emerged from time to time, popular mostly among nostalgia buffs and young children interested in sword and sorcery related items.
The film starts off in the mythical land of Eternia, where the ruthless villain Skeletor (a deliciously hammy Frank Langella, The Twelve Chairs) has managed, with the help of a powerful musical cosmic key, to capture Castle Grayskull, the source for a wealth of magic and power in the region. Skeletor has taken the powerful good Sorceress (Pickles, The Wedding Singer) prisoner and has been draining her of her essence to channel into his own, making him more powerful as time goes on. However, the great hero of Eternia, He-Man (Lundgren, The Punisher), is still free, and with his cronies, the faithful Man-at-War (Cypher, “Hill St. Blues”) and his daughter Teela (Field, The Last Boyscout), he seeks to thwart Skeletor’s plans for dominion over Eternia and restore Castle Grayskull back to its original state.
Their plans go awry when the cosmic key’s creator, the dwarf creature known as Gwildor (Barty, Willow), opens up a portal to modern Earth with a prototype of the same key for them to escape Skeletor’s clutches. The key is lost on arrival to Earth, soon found by a couple of teenagers named Julie (Cox, Scream) and Kevin (McNeill, “Star Trek: Voyager”), who activate it thinking it must be some newfangled musical device. However, using the device alerts Skeletor as to its whereabouts, and once he has pinpointed its location, he sends a band of mercenaries to recover the key and ensnare He-Man, of whom he plans to make an example of in custody to break the will of any would-be heroes left in Eternia.
Directed by first-timer Gary Goddard, who was working with the production of a theme-park stage show of Conan the Barbarian (MOTU‘s executive producer, Edward R. Pressman, was responsible for bringing Conan the Barbarian to the big screen), Masters of the Universe is, by and large, a weak fantasy/action film, full of leaden plotting, inconsistent acting, and hokey characterizations that will most likely please no one but the most forgiving fans of the He-Man mythos. Goddard had nobler intentions, trying to wrestle the vision of the film away from Mattel’s implorations to make the vehicle a means to market more of their toy lines. Concentrating more on aesthetics than in storytelling, Goddard, working from a script by David Odell (co-screenwriter for The Dark Crystal and Supergirl), emphasizes set design, lavish costumes, rubbery makeup, lighting effects and lots and lots of sparkly laser and lightning bolt shots to dazzle the eyes, albeit in a low-grade kind of way. It would be Goddard’s only feature film he would direct, choosing to go into production of films and shorts for theme parks, until Broadway 4D in 2018, which he directed with Bryan Singer.
Many liberties are taken between it and the pre-existing cartoons and comic books, including science fiction elements, such as having He-Man and other Eternian residents fighting primarily with laser guns, instead of the customary sword and armor battles. Due to a lack of interest among studios for producing the proposed $40 million epic, the budgetary concerns for the film resulted in a scaled-back script that held that all of the action would take place in a modern-day Earth. Once production was underway, director Goddard made great changes to that script, wanting something grander is scope than the original budget would allow, bringing more of Eternia into the mix, using the inter-dimensional device to keep the action contained to a few key locations between the two universes. This also would necessitate more sets, costumes, and use of special effects to depict the magic-and-technology driven world, and the result would be a production over budget and pushed beyond schedule for a company trying its best to keep its head above water financially.
But even in those things it could have been faithful to, the film version changes. He-Man barely uses his trusty Sword of Grayskull, shown here to have little, if any, powers, in favor of a standard laser pistol. The personalities of the characters are notably different, with He-Man never shown as being Prince Adam at any point (if that persona even exists), Beast Man relegated to just a grunting hulk, and the list could go on indefinitely. It can be annoying to those that expect the film to follow closely in the spirit of the cartoon, although, treating the film as its own unique entity, there really isn’t much here to suggest that complete adherence to existing canon would have made the quality of the film any better. Surprisingly, many fans of all incarnations of the “Masters of the Universe” forms still embrace this take, despite its flaws.
Beyond the fee for its star Dolph Lundgren, whose box office appeal may have been overvalued, the production had been troubled, going over budget and beyond the production schedule by quite a bit, which was more than a bit concerning for the Cannon Group, who had been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for years. As He-Man’s time on television had begun to wane to make way for newer and more popular properties, the film would end up being released too late to capitalize on the former fervor, and Cannon would hardly be in a position to properly market for a film that had already cost them far more than they had already been desiring to spend, its budget ballooning from $16 million to upwards of $26 million, and its three-month shooting schedule ended up extending two more months. Alas for all involved, its final box office take for this property that had been made to keep a studio flush with cash to make more pictures was a paltry $17 million, two years too late to cash in on the toy line’s rampant popularity at its peak.
Humor is mainly relegated to traditional fish-out-of-water reactions to things on Earth that these visitors don’t have back on their home world, including fried chicken (Teela is repulsed by the bones, realizing that they are eating something that used to be an animal). A feisty James Tolkan is brought in as the cop on the case, plaing the typical hothead enforcer role that the character actor made quite a career out of doing during the 1980s. Conveniently, or I should say lazily, the Earthling and Eternians all speak the same language, despite their difference in customs.
One of the more curious things about Masters of the Universe is the very sterile presentation. Despite the fact that the events within the film are sweeping, covering two universes and dealing with high-concept issues such as time travel and tipping the balance of good and evil for all eternity, the war feels more like a minor skirmish among small, specialized factions. Part of this comes from the fact that He-Man is able to take on Skeletor and his minions with little more than a handful of allies, some of which aren’t particularly useful in battle. Another reason is the lack of extras within the film – the entire city on Earth that the film takes place in is curiously devoid of any people, save for Julie, Kevin, their immediate friends, and some cops. You’d think that the futuristic and militaristic invasions right in the city streets would gather at least a few spectators, if not the majority of the inhabitants of the entire city.
It’s no stretch to assess that Masters of the Universe is a derivative film, from the very Superman–like opening credits and theme song, to the Star Wars type confrontations (very influenced by Return of the Jedi in particular), and some even cite Jack Kirby’s “New Gods” comic books as a primary source, though it may be a coincidence given that the film cribs from material that had already used Kirby as an influence. The film feels very much like a low-budget version of another big screen Star Wars-tinged film based on existing franchises, Flash Gordon, with its cheesy sets and costumes, and juvenile presentation, plus a beefy blonde hero who can’t really act much beyond his physical presence. Coincidentally, the makers of MOTU wanted to dub over Lundgren’s thick Swedish accent, which would have followed how Sam Jones’ had been dubbed for Flash Gordon when he left the project after falling out with the producer and refused to redub his lines in post.
At this point, it should be clear from the review that this film is a limited appeal project only for unwavering fanboys and perhaps those looking to see early work by future television stars Courteney Cox and Robert Duncan McNeil. Lundgren fans will also give it a look, although this is definitely one of his worst roles as an actor, displaying little screen presence (He-Man seems to be a minor factor in the film until the climax), stiffness with the stunts and choreography (he did all his stunts and moves since no one could match his physical stature), and lifeless mumbling through the dialogue (subtitles are a plus, if you have that option). If you enjoy low-budget sci-fi of dubious quality featuring squabbles on the level of your typical professional wrestling match, you’ll get much more mileage out of Masters of the Universe than most. By the power of Grayskull, Masters of the Universe wasn’t a very powerful presence in the film world of 1987.
— There is a very brief stinger following the end credits that sets up for a sequel that was developed but never made.
Qwipster’s rating: D
MPAA Rated: PG for violence
Running Time: 106 min.
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Meg Foster, Billy Barty, Courteney Cox, Robert Duncan McNeill, Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, James Tolkan, Christina Pickles, Tony Carroll
Director: Gary Goddard
Screenplay: David Odell