Masters of the Universe Review – By the Power of Grayskull, Jared Leto Doesn’t Suck

As a franchise, Masters of the Universe is ridiculous. By design, it was purely created to sell toys, hence there being strange and wonderful characters like Fisto, Moss Man, and Trap Jaw. Sure, a little substance materialized thanks to the animated show and lore building over the years, but this story and characters are meant to be taken at face value. In other words, don’t overthink it too much.

Fortunately, director Travis Knight understood the assignment. Masters of the Universe is incredibly fun, as well as a heartfelt love letter to the ’80s fans who have stuck with it to this day. Is it the best movie of the year? No, but it’s definitely my favorite to this point.

Masters of the Universe opens with a flashback of the past, showcasing what happened that resulted in Prince Adam (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) landing on Earth and Eternia falling into the clutches of Skeletor (Jared Leto). The now adult Adam Glenn (Nicholas Galitzine) searches for the Sword of Power, which he lost when he landed on Earth. The good news is he finds it, but this attracts the attention of the forces of good and evil from Eternia. Teela (Camila Mendes) comes to his rescue and takes Adam back to Eternia. Here, he needs to find out how to use the Sword of Power and regain Eternia from Skeletor and his thugs.

Storywise, this is typical ’80s sword and sorcery by way of The NeverEnding Story. It’s fantasy through and through, as the world is rich in characters and colors, encouraging the audience to go on a magical ride and get lost in the process. 

What makes Masters of the Universe stand out, though, is how it embraces its ridiculousness. Knight and Co. don’t take themselves all too seriously, knowing that the only way to execute such a story is to do it in a lighthearted way. It’s easy to draw comparisons to Thor: Ragnarok here, since both movies love their silly moments but also realize when to rein it back and focus on the heart of the characters.

Galitzine is perfect as Adam/He-Man. He’s a lovable goof who you want to cheer for. All he’s ever wanted is to get back home and make his parents proud, but he’s scared that he might not be enough. Then when he becomes He-Man, he becomes almost too confident, having to humble himself and realize where true power comes from.

Mendes’ Teela and Idris Elba’s Man-at-Arms prove to be excellent supporting characters for Adam. It would have been welcome to see Teela receive more development of her character, but Man-at-Arms undergoes his own transformative arc that parallels Adam’s. Special credit also needs to go to Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, who’s an absolute hoot as Skeletor’s sycophant and all-round campy sorceress.

The star of Masters of the Universe, though – and no one can believe it’s being said in 2026 – is Jared Leto as Skeletor. Maybe it’s the fact that Skeletor is mostly CGI and Leto’s voice is barely recognizable. Whichever way, this character is every bit as good as he was in the original animated series, as voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. Skeletor dishes out the trademark insults, cackles, and just revels in being a villain. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a bad guy just be a bad guy without being given a tragic backstory or complicated history. Here, he’s just evil – and it works wonderfully.

The action delights. The score raises the emotion. And everything around this film just feels like it’s exactly what it’s meant to be. It might have taken a long time to arrive, but it’s worth it. Masters of the Universe has the power, indeed.