Masters of the Universe review: nostalgia hits, power fades

Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe brings the 1980s charm back for a new audience—especially through Nicholas Galitzine, Idris Elba, and Daniel Pemberton’s soundtrack moments featuring Queen’s “Princes of the Universe.” But the 141-minute reboot struggles

Masters of the Universe doesn’t quite crack the code it’s chasing. The movie opens with enough color and camp to feel like it’s having fun with its own myth—then gradually loses grip on what that fun is supposed to power.

Set against a familiar franchise spine, the reboot from Travis Knight does plenty right in small, specific places. It’s anchored by Nicholas Galitzine as Adam and Camilla Mendes as Teela, with Idris Elba playing Duncan. It also leans hard into the kind of nostalgia that can feel loving—right up until it starts to resemble something manufactured for the present.

The pitch is clear. Over a decade ago, Adam is sent away from his home planet, Eternia, as the power-hungry Skelator (Jared Leto) invades. Skelator is chasing Adam’s father’s power and the mystical sword that provides it. Adam’s mother. Queen Marlena Glenn (Charlotte Riley). sends him to her home planet. Earth—an important detail that the movie does not explain in its story.

In today’s world. Adam is a clock-watching pencil-pusher who works in HR. searching for the sword to bring him home and save his parents. When the opportunity finally arrives, he reunites with childhood friend Teela and her father/trainer, Duncan (Idris Elba). From there, Adam tries to reclaim what’s his and take on Skeletor.

That opening-to-first-act stretch is where the film finds its rhythm. The “fish out of water” approach works best when it lands in character-specific embarrassment. Adam in the real world is. for much of the early run. the highlight—especially as the movie leans into how hard it is to believe his backstory. The film even spends time addressing the dates in his 20s. giving the flashback setup a runway instead of dumping it all at once.

The runtime also matters. At 141 minutes. Masters of the Universe allots an appropriate amount of time to flashbacks that build Adam’s story and his life on Earth before the quest kicks in fully. The review notes that. if it were a series. two or so episodes could be devoted to Adam’s Earth journey—yet in the movie it takes up most of the first hour.

Elba is singled out as the best spark in the cast. Galitzine is described as okay. but Elba’s performance is presented as the one that brings out the child-like qualities of Adam more naturally than any of his screen partners. Teela’s presence is part of that early bond. but Duncan is the character that seems to remember what the world felt like before it got complicated.

Music becomes a second lane of nostalgia. Daniel Pemberton serves as composer, but Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” makes an appearance. The review points out the irony that “Princes of the Universe” was previously used in Highlander: The Series—an IP name-dropped in Masters of the Universe. Brian May, a Queen guitarist, also wrote a song that slides in seamlessly.

And yet the second half is where the story starts to wobble. There is some well-choreographed action, but the rudimentary story can only do so much work. The final 80 minutes are described as tedious. not for lack of spectacle. but because the movie begins to feel like it is moving from point A to point B while offering the bare minimum to get there.

The biggest problem is emotional weight. The review says it feels like no scene lands with real weight because the movie is constantly undercutting emotional moments with Marvel-style humor. For audiences over the age of 13. that humor is described as grinding—rarely funny. used at nearly every possible turn. and treated as the lowest-hanging fruit.

The critique draws a direct line from the MCU: it isn’t that low-brow humor was invented elsewhere, but that it popularized sacrificing emotional weight for cheap laughs. Masters of the Universe, a franchise not seen on the big screen in almost 40 years, takes a lesson that lands the wrong way.

Still, the visuals do some of the lifting that the story can’t. The colors are vivid, and the landscapes can be breathtaking. But the movie also looks, at times, like an extremely top-of-the-line video game. For a blockbuster with this kind of budget—something the review frames as unacceptable in 2026—it becomes especially questionable when practical effects look genuinely good in places. including mythical characters and sets created with practical work.

Skeletor is called a mixed bag. The character design resembles the original closely, down to the colors of his armor. But the skull is completely CGI, and that leaves Jared Leto without room to give the character personality. Leto is described as always menacing. but lacking nuance in the performance. and he is also given some of the worst one-liners. Those lines severely hinder his monologues.

So should you watch?. The review lands on a qualified yes—with caveats that come from inconsistency. Masters of the Universe is described as a step up from the last movie in the franchise. and it “appropriately pays homage to very early in the 2026 film.” It also takes itself more seriously in some ways. which could help it set up a potential franchise. At other times, it feels derivative like most blockbusters.

In the end, the review calls it simple and honest: the movie is inconsistent. Its best qualities—visuals and scenes of Adam on Earth—never reach their full potential. Its worst qualities—its humor—are bad enough to ignore.

For kids of the ’80s, the review argues, Masters of the Universe is probably everything they’d want in a movie about this source material. It’s not nearly as hokey as the 1987 movie, and it will likely age better. But the reboot still leaves a question hanging: does anyone else want it?

Masters of the Universe will be released on June 6. The grade given is C+.

Masters of the Universe review Travis Knight Nicholas Galitzine Camilla Mendes Idris Elba Jared Leto Charlotte Riley Queen Princes of the Universe Daniel Pemberton June 6 release