Written by David Odell
Directed by Gary Goddard
Skeletor: "I ache to smash you out of existence! To drive your cursed face from my memories forever!"
He-Man: "Enough talk!"
Skeletor: "YES! Let this be our final battle!"
Sometimes you need a camp classic from the 1980s for an afternoon treat and with this movie currently filming a reboot for next year, I thought it was time to catch up with this one again. I'm actually glad I did because while this ain't a cinematic classic, it's certainly a lot of fun.
On the planet of Eternia, the sinister warlord Skeletor (Frank Langella) had control of Castle Greyskull. It's the centre of power in the universe and with the Sorceress (Christina Pickles) as his prisoner, Skeletor had quite the advantage for his reign of terror. Of course there was an obstacle.
The obstacle being the rather hunky He-Man (Dolph Lundgren) and his companions, Teela (Chelsea Fields) and her father Man-At-Arms (Jon Cypher). Along with diminutive locksmith Gwildor (Billy Barty) and a portal opening key, Skeletor had to assemble a team of his own in order to get that vital device.
That team included Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster), Saurod (Pons Maar), Blade (Anthony De Longis), Beast Man (Tony Caroll) and Karg (Robert Towers), all of whom ended up having to go to Earth, where the majority of the movie actually took place. It's where He-Man, Teela and Man-At-Arms ended up, trying to retrieve the device with Gwildor.
With this movie, you needed a few human protagonists in the mix and teenage couple Julie Winston (Courtney Cox) and Kevin Corrigan (Robert Duncan McNeill) along with grouchy detective Hugh Lubic (James Tolkan) and music store owner, Charlie (Barry Livingston) made up that part of the cast. It's mostly Julie and Kevin that are a help to He-Man and his companions with Lubic being more of an obstacle.
Of course the quest to get the key back had Skeletor cone to Earth and capturing He-Man was just an added bonus for him. Taking things back to Eternia for the third act did make me realise how much I missed seeing the place for most of the movie. Needless to say, Skeletor's victory was mostly on the short-lived side of things with He-Man regaining the upper hand and a spot of time travelling fixed something personal for Julie as well.
- A post credit scene indicated that Skeletor actually survived being thrown into the pit. A sequel had also been planned.
- Mattel certainly caused problems behind the scenes for the movie with not paying half the production cast in time.
- Standout music: Bill Conte's score for the movie in particular was enjoyable.
- Chronology: Some of the movie was in Castle Greyskull on Eternia but most was set in California.
I know the film was both a commercial and critical failure, a role that the lead actor cited his least favourite and that there's too much time on Earth but I kind of enjoyed Masters Of The Universe. It's campy enough to be enjoyable for a good afternoon.
Rating: 6 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment