I dominatori dell'universo

I was 9 when this first came out. I was amazed, excited and in awe. It was he-man! In real life! But then I started to think 'Wheres battle cat?' 'where are all skeletors henchmen?' 'why the hell isn't this set on eternia?' 'He-man can pick up mountains. Why is he getting his ass so beaten?'. And so it continued. The annoying midget took the place of Orko, was the icing on the cake! The problem with this film is, basically, that it was released 2 years too late. He-Man was hot in 1985. His popularity was on the wane. They also changed far too much. I know they probably relocated the story to Earth for budgetary reasons (a scrap yard is a cheaper place to have a battle than a 'mystical swamp'), but they could have at least kept skeletors old henchmen. Only Beastman survived and he was pretty lame. And don't get me started on the others. Aside from its cheapness and derivative nature, there are so many things wrong with this film. It is so unambitious. He-Man had the potential to weave a believable universe. It had established characters and conventions, it had mysticism and technology and a super hero lead. When you change that much you please no one. Fans of the original are disappointed and non fans have no interest. The only decent change they made was to include Mr Strickland from back to the future. That guy kicks ass! At least in the She-Ra movie they kept things the same. Now that was a tie in (note: Irony).

This film came out in 1987 which was two years after the Transformers movie (the cartoon). It also came on two years after the last new episode of the cartoon was made. Basically, it pretty much was a done franchise when the live action adaptation hit the big screen. I was a fan of the cartoon, so I went to this film, but even at this young age I was not the fan I once was. Transformers took the mantle of my favorite cartoon. Still, I thought it would be cool to see a live action He-man, which I remember reading about in my He-man monthly magazine. What graces the screen is a mixed bag. You find yourself saying 'that is pretty cool' while at the same time going 'this really isn't much like the cartoon'. The film was released by Canon, which is odd mainly due to the fact they mainly released 'R' rated, over the top violence and bloody movies during this time. Here they release a children's film and do so with a rather large budget...over 20 million. They cast Dolph in the role of He-man and had a few other stars of note in what would be a doomed franchise in that it never made it passed the first initial film.

The story has Skeletor basically in charge. He has taken over Castle Greyskull, he has the sorceress in his evil clutches and he has He-man and his two allies Man-At-Arms and Teela on the run. So already it is nothing like the cartoon as I just do not remember any episodes where Skeletor was this ahead of the game. It is kind of like the Transformers film in that in that one the Decepticons were winning despite never really challenging the Autobots during the course of the show. It is also more forgiving here as this is a live action movie, independent of the cartoon, while the Transformers were a continuation of the show. Well He-man and company run across a little creature named Gwildor. I do think they should of just named him Orko and be down with it, cause that is obviously who he was in essence. Well this creature has a device that transports our gang from Eternia to Earth and thus Hollywood once again uses the trick of setting what should be a battle on a fantasy world to Earth. Earth, the place where sets are not as expensive. We also get these two teenagers who have drama in their lives, making me wonder, who the heck were these two characters trying to appeal to? Not me, or my friend as we both found their romance and storyline boring. Well there are battles aplenty and when the film is focused on the action it is pretty good.

Dolph is okay as He-man, he certainly has the looks. Still, he does not look at home in a child friendly film in costume. Frank Langella seems right at home though as the evil Skeletor and he does a commendable job. He also has the coolest scene in the film, where his giant throne like ship comes rising up behind our characters. The rest of the cast do okay, get rid of the two teens and their asinine sad plot and this film could of been great. Not saying we should not have an earthling for the gang to interact with, but not the girl from the Bruce Springsteen video! Seriously, were they trying to attract teens that would not want to see a He-man film in a million years or what? If they were looking to attract teen guys, all the simply had to do was put Teela in the costume she wore in the cartoon.

So basically the film has some good and some bad. A bit more good than bad. The film plays like other films like Star Wars and Krull with the added additions of the He-man and Skeletor characters. I do not understand the inclusions of the newer characters, because at this point the toy was finished so why not have more of the characters from the show. Why Gwilder instead of Orko? They at least had Teela, Man-At-Arms, Evilyne and Beastman, but those new characters were just lame. Well Sauron was cool and not in the movie for long. Karg and Blademaster were just embarrassing looking. The film though has some good action, between the melodrama and this film while not perfect did probably the best it could with the budget and the source material. Had the rights been bought by a bigger film company I am sure it could have done better. This film reminds me of the Dragonball: Evolution film, it too was released well after the show's popularity had fallen, only this one was not the failure it was, because even it followed the source material better than that film. So an okay action flick with some fantasy touches.

The movie is a little outdated, however still entertaining enough. I am a little biased because of the nostalgia. What still holds up is all the Skeletor scenes. The acting is brilliant.

I feel a bit guilty, reading some of the other reviews posted, but I liked MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE! Perhaps because I was never 'into' the cartoon series, I am more forgiving of characters or plot devices left out, and I certainly recognize that it is derivative of both STAR WARS and FLASH GORDON (particularly in Bill Conti's bombastic musical score), but there is so much energy in the film, such abundant confidence in the ultimate victory of Good versus Evil, and such a wonderfully campy performance by Frank Langella as rubber-masked Skeletor that I get a kick out of it, whenever it airs.

Physically, no actor could be more perfect as the hero, He-Man, than ROCKY 4's Dolph Lundgren. At 6'6" (that's two inches taller than JOHN WAYNE, trivia fans!), with flowing blond hair and blue eyes, the 30-year old Swedish actor combined a Herculean physique (if Marvel Comics' "The Mighty Thor" is ever filmed, he would be perfect as the Thunder God), with a knack for weapons that would earn him the future title of 'King' of 'B' action flicks. True, his English was so poor at the time of filming that his dialog was kept to a minimum, but who watches this kind of film for dialog, anyway?

Supporting Lundgren's He-Man is crusty veteran soldier, Duncan (Man-at-Arms), played by character actor Jon Cypher, who makes up for He-Man's taciturn nature by reminiscing constantly about a life in the military (with observations EVERY soldier has made, through history), and his daughter, Teela (pretty Chelsea Field, one of the busiest actresses of the decade), serving as a "Xena Lite" for the proceedings.

Opposing the Forces of Good with the irreplaceable Langella is one of my favorite actresses, Meg Foster, as the sublimely wicked Evil-Lyn, using her piercing green eyes and barely suppressed sexuality to great advantage. With an array of the cartoon's more colorful villains in support of Skeletor and Evil-Lyn, He-Man has his hands full!

The plot involves a tonal 'key', created by a dwarf, Gwildor (screen legend Billy Barty, in an initially irritating, but eventually endearing role), that can transport individuals wherever they desire. Stolen by Evil-Lyn, Skeletor uses it to capture He-Man's Castle Greyskull and it's resident Sorceress ("St. Elsewhere" alum Christina Pickles). With a hidden prototype 'key', Gwildor leads our heroes into the castle...where they are nearly captured by Skeletor, before the dwarf throws together some random numbers, and transports our heroes...to Earth.

The 'key' is lost, as the four arrive on our planet, to be found by aspiring musician Kevin Corrigan ("Star Trek: Voyager" star Robert Duncan McNeill) who thinks it's a Japanese musical instrument! With girlfriend Julie Winston (future "Friends" superstar Courteney Cox, looking young and gorgeous), the pair are astonished by the musical complexities of the device, unaware that each time it is 'played', Skeletor is getting a better 'fix' of it's location. Eventually, our planet is pinpointed, and Skeletor leads an army of villains to subdue us, and capture He-Man.

With great comic support by bald character actor James Tolkan (BACK TO THE FUTURE), as a bewildered police detective, some spectacular 'set' pieces (Skeletor's invasion force, backed by 'Darth Vader'ish music, is a highlight), and an ending that concludes that "ANYTHING is possible", MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is great cheesy fun!

Certainly, the film is not a classic, but if you accept it on it's own terms, I think you might find it to be a lot of fun!

So, this precious little gem, from the 80s, still remains a special gem in our minds. First of all, let me be clear, this is movie is bad, not the worst, but really bad and campy. I don't know how Cannon pictures took over the rights for this film, and how no other well-known, or larger studio didn't take the rights of something so popular. Really, He-Man and Masters of the Universe were quite popular and favorite show for kids (and to mention all that toys sales…), but was it a good idea? Was it necessary? Even for the 80s?

Now, the budget was ridiculously low, and the movie did not worked well at box office, but it has, even today, a loyal cult following. The story is funny, it's just a movie adaptation of some typical (not exactly) episode about a cosmic key that is wanted by Skeletor. Now, the story and directing, including script are cheesy, meant for kids of course, but when you get older, you realize how dumb that clichéd that was. They did not follow the original idea entirely, the characters do not look too much as themselves from the original TV show, they did not even put their original super powers, or special abilities, He-Man doesn't even have his Battle cat. So, that makes things disappointing. The acting is ridiculous, except maybe for Meg Foster… and of course Frank Langella… I'll talk about him soon enough.

I have to admit that Dolph Lundgren was a pretty good choice for He- Man, but, the guy can't act, and he looks pretty much older and they never referred to him as "Adam". Meg Foster was good as Evil-Lyn and I think she was a good choice and she put some of her charm and poisonous sexiness to her character… I vouch for her. This was one of the first major roles of Courtney Cox, thought she did not tried that much, nor her character was all that developed. Her boyfriend Kevin (Robert Duncan McNeill) was just ridiculous. Other actors as James Tolkan (who played a cliché detective who waits his retirement), Neil Cypher (Man at Arms was not that special) was solid, Chelsea Field (Teela was not that much developed also, she was there to look good in her tight white battle-armor… ). I think that supporting actors as Bill Barty (who played Gwildor) was good. Though I also think that they made up this character, because they didn't have a budget for Orko. And also… Anthony Longinus was good as Blade, though he could do more fighting scenes with his character.

Now, for Frank Langella… what to say… Everyone who studies acting, want to become an actor, or is already an accomplished actor… must swear to Langella's performance here. I think that Langella saved this film. He was easily the best actor in the film. So this is a prime example of good actor, overshadowing all other actors. He just steals the entire show and he was glad about it, because his sons wanted him to play Skeletor. And look at him, that is the actor who had so much fun with his character and that would be a good advice to other actors… just have fun with it. Just like for example… Raul Julia in Street Fighter (1994).

The costumes and make up were not entirely bad, but the costumes could have been better. They could make them to identify more with the TV show characters. The costumes of Skeletor's storm troopers were too generic… too usual. The interior and exterior of planet Eternia was bad… it was just bad and unimaginative… So most of the scenes were filmed on earth. There are also people who thinks that this movie has gay overtones and make jokes about it… Really, some people can't notice something far more important in the film… Overall, I do recommend this gem, because it's a good, family fun, of course not to take for granted. And, yes… watch after credits.