Masters of the Universe (1987)
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 "A battle fought in the stars, now..comes to earth." yeah right...
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| This article was copied (instead of imported) from Awful Movies Wiki on the Wayback Machine. |
Masters of the Universe is a 1987 science fiction fantasy film based on the Mattel characters of the same name. The film stars Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Jon Cypher, Chelsea Field, Billy Barty, Courteney Cox and Robert Duncan McNeill.
Plot
Two teenagers meet the mighty warrior He-Man, who has arrived on Earth from planet Eternia and is on a mission to save the universe from his nemesis, the evil Skeletor.
Why It Doesn't Have The Power Of Grayskull
- The story is weak.
- Due to Cannon Films and Mattel being in dire financial straits at the time, the film's budget was slashed, resulting in many of the film's problems.
- The costumes are totally laughable, especially He-Man’s costume which looks like a prototype version of Frank Miller's 300 comic and it's 2007 film adaptation from director Zack Snyder.
- A bunch of the special effects are horribly done.
- Due to his lack of meaningful dialogue and focus, He-Man feels like a side character in his own movie.
- The sets are boring and uninspired.
- Laughable performances, especially by Dolph Lundgren who was a poor pick to play He-Man.
- Despite the film being based around He-Man and his allies, the film wasn’t given the full title He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
- Extremely poor grasp of the source material.
- Sequel baiting: There is a scene after the end of the credits of where Skeletor rises and declares that he'll be back. However, this never happened due to the poor performance of the first film.
Redeeming Qualities
- Frank Langella gives what's easily the by far the best performance of the movie as Skeletor.
- The fight scenes weren't too bad, even with the poor special effects.
- Certain fans of the original series may enjoy this film.
- Our main characters are pretty good.
- The music is pretty good, especially for the action scenes.
- The makeup on Skeletor is really nice.
Reception
Masters of the Universe currently holds a 17% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 3.2 out of 10, and a critic consensus that reads "Masters of the Universe is a slapdash adaptation of the He-Man mythos that can't overcome its cynical lack of raison d'etre, no matter how admirably Frank Langella throws himself into the role of Skeletor." Desmond Ryan of The Philadelphia Inquirer stated "With Masters of the Universe -- the latest numbskull entertainment from the creators of Castle Greyskull -- He-Man makes the transition from animation to live action. Taking a live actor along for the ride might have helped." Felix Vasquez, Jr. of Cinema Crazed stated "It is by no means a masterpiece, but it still possesses some keen schlock value for fans of eighties cinema."
Box Office
The film opened up at #3 on its opening weekend of August 7, 1987 and grossed $17,336,370 against its $22 million budget making it a huge bomb. Despite being a failure, the film has received a cult following.
Videos
Masters of the Universe is ranked at #2.
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