{"id":8032,"date":"2010-06-16T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-16T07:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/main\/?p=8032"},"modified":"2010-06-16T00:01:11","modified_gmt":"2010-06-16T07:01:11","slug":"amb-masters-of-the-universe-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/amb-masters-of-the-universe-1987\/","title":{"rendered":"AMB: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8047 aligncenter\" title=\"Only The Universe Could Hold Muscles This Big!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Only-The-Universe-Could-Hold-Muscles-This-Big.jpg\" alt=\"Only The Universe Could Hold Muscles This Big!\" width=\"366\" height=\"561\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>[THE  CHALK-OUTLINE]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Masters Of The Universe  (1987): Breakdown by RANTBO<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A barbarian, an old  man, a woman and a midget team up with two teenagers to do battle with an evil  league of monsters lead by a skeleton, whose lust for power could bring  destruction and darkness to the universe. ~cough-cough~ Oh, man&#8230;  that&#8217;s some goooood shit.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  GOOD, THE BAD AND THEIR BADASSITUDE]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">THE HERO:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8043 aligncenter\" title=\"He-Dolph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/He-Dolph.jpg\" alt=\"He-Dolph\" width=\"546\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Dolph  Lundgren is He-Man<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A man so manly, He must have Man in his  name. It&#8217;s quite a trick to pull off being imposing while wearing a cape  and loincloth with nothing but leather straps in-between, but Film  He-Man pulls it off. With a head-strong, never-give-up, never-surrender  attitude and the medieval-meets-spaceage fighting prestige to back it  up, his badassitiude never comes into question. Strange, I know, but  it&#8217;s my true opinion. In fact, Dolph&#8217;s version of He-Man instantly made  me forget about what a giant fairy his cartoon counterpart was. With  deep Viking vocals, a lumbering walk and combination  blade\/blaster\/bruiser fighting technique (his 40+ kills don&#8217;t hurt  toward validation either), he&#8217;s the (he-)man. And all without losing the  strong homosexual presence of Prince Adam. In short, Lundgren was a rare  perfect casting and it&#8217;s a crying shame there wasn\u2019t more time spent on  him and by proxy, that glorious Swedish mullet. So much so, it\u2019s  fitting that they dropped <strong>He-Man And <\/strong>The from the title of the picture,  as he\u2019s barely in the fucking thing. Something I&#8217;ll bitch more about later on&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">THE VILLAIN:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8041 aligncenter\" title=\"Frankeletor\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Frankeletor.jpg\" alt=\"Frankeletor\" width=\"546\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Frank Langella is Skeletor<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Skeletor:<\/span> Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Is it equal to the  loneliness of evil?*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To repeat, Frank Langella is Skeletor. How  weird is that? Granted, back in 1987 Langella hadn&#8217;t exactly wowed the  world with his acting endeavors, but looking back now it&#8217;s almost  laughable. And by that I mean, laughably awesome. Even cooler, Langella  has gone on record as stating that playing Skeletor was one of his  favorite roles. And the product expresses as much. Langella courts the  role as though it were Shakespeare, chewing the scenery like Trap-Jaw.  And with a face covered in silly, yet surprisingly good make-up, a  sparkly Sith hooded robe and a pimp-stick to bitch-slap all pimp-sticks,  his look is just as gloriously over-the-top as the performance.<\/p>\n<p>Yet due to a lack of funds and, subsequently, time, Skeletor&#8217;s role  is not much more than pointing menacingly, sitting stoically and  yelling. And as such, he doesn&#8217;t really get to do all that much until  just before the credits, when he transforms into Super-Skeletor, and  performs an understandably awkward fight sequence (due to the ludicrous  costume change) that doesn&#8217;t really live up to how imposing Frank  portrayed the character in dialogue and mannerisms. However he does  electrocute one of his subordinates to neon dust with <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">the force<\/span> magic,  that was pretty cool.<\/p>\n<p>*Frank actually wrote that shit.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">AND THE MASTERS OF THE  UNIVERSE: <\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I guess&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8046   aligncenter\" title=\"OMG, We Like TOTALLY Suck!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/OMG-We-Like-TOTALLY-Suck.jpg\" alt=\"OMG, We Like TOTALLY Suck!\" width=\"545\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Courteney  Cox and Robert Duncan McNeill are Julie Winston and Kevin Corrigan<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Groan. Terrible. Simply, terrible. In all actuality, I should have  posted these two under the above HERO section, as sadly they&#8217;re the  protagonists who the filmmakers chose to follow for the majority of  the film. But I refuse.<\/p>\n<p>So, badass? Not even close. For starters, Kevin and Julie seem to  share a brain. And an underdeveloped one at that. Not to mention the  right one never seems to have it when the real heroes could benefit from  a little home-planet assistance. And while K&amp;J&#8217;s consistent  meddling and atrociously illogical decisions all but spell doom for  He-Man and crew are reason enough to dislike them, the worst thing about  their characters was the filmmaker&#8217;s actually expected us to care about  their overbearing emotional and relationship troubles. Fuck that. I  hate them both and wish they had died.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8048   aligncenter\" title=\"Quick, Strike A Pose Like We Matter!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Quick-Strike-A-Pose-Like-We-Matter.jpg\" alt=\"Quick, Strike A Pose Like We Matter!\" width=\"544\" height=\"306\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Jon Cypher and Chelsea Ford are Duncan and Teela<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>He-Man&#8217;s  right-hand-old-man-at-arms and some woman who follows them around,  these two complete the triangle of the Eternia resistance. No wonder  they needed the help&#8230; OK, to be fair they aren&#8217;t all that bad.  Especially Teela, she looks pretty good in that skin-tight gray  jumpsuit. And now that I think about it, Duncan did eat the SHIT out of a  bucket of chicken. That&#8217;s pretty B-A. And despite his age, and her  gender, they both manage to hold their own in a laser-shootout and even  manage to assist He-Man in killing one or two of Skeletor&#8217;s minions. And  they also get major points simply for not being complete fuck-heads  like Kevin and Julie.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8036 aligncenter\" title=\"...Small Hands...\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Small-Hands....jpg\" alt=\"...Small Hands...\" width=\"546\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Billy Barty is Gwildor of Thenur<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>More annoying than anything  else, Gwildor is essentially the catalyst for everyone&#8217;s strife. To  counteract this his species (the character&#8217;s, not midgets), comes  equipped with a high-pitched voice, a dis-proportioned body and fur as a  cuteness defense mechanism which keeps everyone from simply killing  him. You know, just like babies. Or midgets. Hence my annoyance.<\/p>\n<p>The builder of the cosmic key (amongst a bunch of other crap),  Gwildor proves to be useful (read: the bane of everyone&#8217;s existence)  with his magical engineering skills and superior intellect. So, needless  to say, he is far from bad-ass. One could argue that he does fashion  together a pretty sweet pimp-mobile (that for some reason or another has  the same sound effects as the DeLorean from <strong>Back To The Future<\/strong>), but  the fact that his face looks like cow-flop ups his  creepiness factor far too high for me to reconsider his badassitude.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8037 aligncenter\" title=\"Aloha, Slackers!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Aloha-Slackers.jpg\" alt=\"Aloha, Slackers!\" width=\"546\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">James Tolkan is Detective Lubic<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>At long last, someone other  than He-Man who&#8217;s not afraid to put foot-to-ass to save the Universe. Of course,  Lubic has no idea that&#8217;s what he&#8217;s involved in doing, he&#8217;s just a  hard-headed Jersey cop that wants these freakos outta his god damned  jurisdiction. Plus he has to endure babysitting Kevin for the majority  of the film. One sympathizes. Lubic makes it bearable for the audience  though, as he&#8217;s the one character who treats Kev like the moron he is.  Not to mention when inadvertently dragged along through time and space,  he just racks his shotgun and unloads with a stream of curse coated  bullets and in less than a minute does more for the cause than the rest of  He-Man&#8217;s support combined. What a team player.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8040 aligncenter\" title=\"Evil-Eyes\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Evil-Eyes.jpg\" alt=\"Evil-Eyes\" width=\"546\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Meg Foster is Evil-Lyn<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Because Sarah Douglas was busy.  Seriously, they asked Douglas first. But if I had to go with another actress, I too would have  asked Foster. She&#8217;s just so damn creepy. It&#8217;s those eyes, man. I don&#8217;t  trust them. Like any good number two henchwoman, Evil-Lyn stands by  Skeletor&#8217;s side and relays his verbose and threatening orders to the  faceless minions and takes all the heat when they, of course, fuck them  all up. Lyn tries her best at leading the masses, but the ineptitude of  her staff is incorrigible. I wouldn&#8217;t really blame her for the constant  failures, but then when she does take matters into her own hands, she  only ends up succeeding in fooling Julie into handing over the film&#8217;s  macguffin. But you wouldn&#8217;t reward B-A points to someone for duping a  retard out of their candy-bar, would you? And such is the case with Lyn.  Sorry baby, close but no cigar. Try taking on someone of average  intelligence next time and we&#8217;ll talk.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8039 aligncenter\" title=\"Eternia Squares\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Eternia-Squares.jpg\" alt=\"Eternia Squares\" width=\"546\" height=\"445\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">Robert Towers is Karg, Tony Carroll is Beastman, Pons Marr is Saurod  and Anthony De Longis is Blade<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Bring out the B-Team. Karg is  essentially number three, and as such a moniker would suggest, he gets  the bronze on every mission. He fails in getting the item he&#8217;s sent for,  fails in stopping the enemy from getting the item, BUT he does keep  making it out alive to screw the pooch another day. But nobody roots for  such a person. Plus, with that hair and that face and that pointless  un-cool hook-hand, even if he were capable of something other than  running away and lying about the circumstances, how could I possibly  find him anything else but embarrassing? And same can pretty much be  said about his elite troop of big, bad assassins; Beastman, Saurod and  Blade. The Three Stooges of the Universe. Best I can say about them is,  Beastman didn&#8217;t have two ferrets following him around, Saurod&#8217;s make-up  was pretty cool and Blade made me laugh in that he was actually gayer in  appearance than He-Man. Not only could the four of them combined not even come close to  getting a drop on Dolph, but this motley crew couldn&#8217;t even outsmart  Julie when she was trapped and in complete hysterics. Epic fail on all  four counts.<\/p>\n<p>This film really should have just been about He-Man teaming up with  Jersey Detective &#8220;Strict-Man&#8221; Lubic to bring down Skeletor and the  Masters of the Reagan Administration. Leaving all the other characters  trapped forever within that terrible cartoon.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  SEX AND VIOLENCE]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While  <strong>He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe<\/strong> was without a doubt THE gayest  cartoon EVER made, the  film pales in comparison. Which is another way of saying it&#8217;s still gayer than <strong>The Ambiguously Gay Duo<\/strong>. It\u2019s odd that while so much of the cartoon\u2019s concepts,  characters and plot-lines were kept out of the live-action adaptation,  they still managed to \u201cpack in\u201d the homosexual undertones.<\/p>\n<p>He-Man spends 80% of the film in nothing but a  loincloth-cape-boots and shoulder-pad combo and then the rest in just  the boots and loincloth. As an added bonus, he is almost never seen  without his over-sized blade of phallic death. And the small amount of  time he actually does spend apart from his magical penis extension, he  is in captivity and Skeletor has his bald chainmail-clad minion, Blade,  give He-Man a thrashing with a neon colored light-whip. He pretends not  to enjoy it. Tasty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8051 aligncenter\" title=\"Your Name Is Adam! -- He~eh~Man\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Your-Name-Is-Adam-HeehMan.jpg\" alt=\"Your Name Is Adam! -- He~eh~Man\" width=\"544\" height=\"308\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While Evil Lyn and Teela are both assertive and powerful female characters, every inch they  add to the progression of their gender being made more active and  excepted within the galactic military is immediately defeated in the  audience&#8217;s eyes by the earthling, Julie Winston. Silly, naive, impulsive,  infantile and completely at the mercy of her emotional baggage, Julie  is the personification of a typical teenage girl. Plus, she&#8217;s a dumbass.<\/p>\n<p>With a one-track, woe-is-me mind-frame, her every decision is based  on making herself feel better. And this, of course, backfires, as the  moment in which she finally finds relief from her emotional crutch, it&#8217;s  a trap and she completely screws over everyone with her irrational,  hasty and selfish stupidity.<\/p>\n<p>Then, at the end of the movie, Gwildor offers to send her and  her equally moronic boyfriend back to Earth to any place and\/or time  that they want. Me, being a rational thinking male, would have at least  given this offer a minute\u2019s thought, but these two &#8220;just want to go  home&#8221;. The gateway is opened and as they start to walk through, Julie,  for some reason, starts to think. <em><strong>\u201cGwildor! Wait! Send us back before my  pare\u2026!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Oh yeah! Her parents died last year. Oops! Guess she should  have thought about that shit when Gwildor had said ANY TIME, huh? Of  course, even though she doesn\u2019t deserve a happy ending due to her  shocking obliviousness, she still receives one and I have one more  reason to regard the female brain with contempt and loathing.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">MURDER BY NUMBERS: [ 70+ ]<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/main\/?p=8178\">HERE<\/a> for the Body Count Breakdown<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Who ever would have thought that a  movie based on a kid\u2019s toy would have a personal (meaning one-by-one  deaths, not large un-violent catastrophes) body count of this caliber?  Though 99% of the kills are spark-induced laser blasts and metal-on-metal sword  cuts, with a few explosions mixed in for good measure, it&#8217;s still pretty gruesome for the target audience of 5 year-olds. No one on the  good side with a name dies, so they own practically the entire count.  Dolph himself manages a very nice 41 by his lonesome and the rest  are divided amongst the other named heroes, with several randos going to  the evil Centurians (Stormtroopers) in the overthrowing of Castle  Greyskull. Not too shabby for a PG kids film, I must say.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">MOST SATISFYING ASS-KICKING AND\/OR DEATH:<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Batter UP!<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>He-Man  liberates one of the Centurian\u2019s hover-boards and uses it to take out  the rest of the armada. For most of them he uses his high-ground to  snipe the poor automatons with his blaster, but for one special fellow,  He-Man unleashes the beast\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8044 aligncenter\" title=\"He-Man's Got A Pitbull, Now\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/He-Mans-Got-A-Pitbull-Now.jpg\" alt=\"He-Man's Got A Pitbull, Now\" width=\"545\" height=\"305\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One touch of He-Man\u2019s \u201cblade\u201d and the poor bastard explodes into  fiery sparks of glitter.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  BEST OF THE REST]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">EPIC  MOMENT:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em><strong>\u201cNobody takes pot-shots at Lubic!\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The moment goes  to James &#8216;Strickland&#8217; Tolkan&#8217;s Detective Lubic as he decides, fuck it.  If you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em. After being unwillingly transported  from the suburbs of Jersey to GreySkull (though how he can tell the  difference, I don&#8217;t know), he is fired upon by numerous Centurians  and he\u2014gets\u2014pissed\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8038 aligncenter\" title=\"Eat Lead, SLACKERS!!!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Eat-Lead-SLACKERS.jpg\" alt=\"Eat Lead, SLACKERS!!!\" width=\"546\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Lubic:<\/span> All right, freakos, you want to play games? Then Let\u2019s  Play!\u2014(clack-clack BOOM! clack-clack BOOM!) Come On, You Mother!\u201d  (clack-clack BOOM! clack-clack BOOM! clack-clack BOOM!)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He wastes  4 of the bastards in rapid succession with his boomstick of disgruntled  east-coast justice and decides, on the spot, that Eternia is the place  for him.\u00a0 No paperwork!<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\">BEST LINE:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Now, while the above is indeed a great line,  nothing can out-do the series\u2019 standard and catch phrase of my  childhood\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8049 aligncenter\" title=\"The Power To Move Me\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/The-Power-To-Move-Me.jpg\" alt=\"The Power To Move Me\" width=\"544\" height=\"306\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">He-Man:<\/span> I HAVE THE POWER!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Indeed you do, you  gorgeous hunk of Space-Swede you.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  EXECUTION]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The film opens with a most excellent  exposition narration\/crawl, that while making absolutely no fucking  sense\u2014is still one of the most awesome god damned things I\u2019ve ever heard  in my life. Just the fact that they bothered to even try and explain  the backstory of a set-up so ludicrous is commendable. But then to  follow it up by the amazing musical talents of one Bill Conti  (<strong>Rocky<\/strong>)(having clearly stolen the theme from John Williams\u2019 <strong>Superman<\/strong> score) makes the pre-credits prologue simply stellar. Problem is, much  like <strong>Superman<\/strong>, the film only goes downhill from there\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Apparently while the credits rolled, an evil army of darkness lead  by Skeletor captured Castle Greyskull and imprisoned a Sorceress that  lives within. But all hope is not lost, as the Sorceress informs  Skeletor that he has not won yet, for He-Man still lives. So the  question becomes, who is this man of resistance?\u2014This man that stands  with defiance?\u2014This \u201cHe-Man\u201d? Well, turns out, it\u2019s a sword-wielding  Dolph Lundgren in a leather cod-piece. And the Action Gods have  delivered again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8045 aligncenter\" title=\"Hmm, Odd Weather We're Having...\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Hmm-Odd-Weather-Were-Having....jpg\" alt=\"Hmm, Odd Weather We're Having...\" width=\"545\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As with most children of the 80s, He-Man was a god to me. He lived  inside a castle shaped like a skull, rode a giant tiger and battled a  walking skeleton. All of which made him about the coolest thing to have  ever existed\u2014to a four year-old. But, who would have thought that 20+  years later, I\u2019d still be watching in awe the man that brought him to  life?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fitting that this was Dolph\u2019s first lead role, as it\u2019s the one  he was born to play. A tall, garishly dressed lout with long blonde hair  and a penchant for shirtless combat. And much like the cartoon&#8217;s  version, only responsible for 10 or so simplistic lines of dialogue. I  ask you, who could have been prettier than Dolph? I mean better. Who  could have been better than Dolph? Lundgren\u2019s physique was more than  striking enough to sell the character as a man not to be fucked with (or  by, for that matter), but then you stick a giant broadsword in his  banana hands, and forget about it. No one&#8217;s going to make fun of that  hair.<\/p>\n<p>He-Man, together with his good friends; Duncan, Teela (who action  fans might recognize as the stewardess that seats Matrix in <strong>Commando<\/strong>)  and Billy Barty, travel to Jersey (it\u2019s cheaper to film there than in  Eternia) with a fire-extinguisher-sized star-gate device to stop  Skeletor, save the Sorceress and reclaim Castle Greyskull. Which is all  fine and well, until this whole mess with the teenage love-birds gets  introduced and completely side-lines He-Man AND The Masters of the  Universe to follow them around. Big mistake.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m  pretty forth coming with what I enjoy and what I don&#8217;t. And while I  wouldn&#8217;t call <strong>Masters Of The Universe<\/strong> a guilty pleasure, as I feel no  shame in openly expressing my enjoyment of it, I do understand that  there really isn&#8217;t any good reason for me to like this crap. Now I LOVED  He-Man as a kid. Fucking loved him. I watched the show, I collected the  toys (which I still have), so I guess due to the small connections that  remained unchanged in adaptation, I adored the movie. And even through  its many flaws (a ridiculous plot, goofy acting, silly make-up, bad  story, lame dialogue) it still managed to satisfy young Rant. And even  though I am far less forgiving twenty years later, I still get a kick  out of watching this flick, if for nothing else than the precious few  scenes in which they got it right. Namely, everything with Lundgren and  Langella.<\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s fitting that they (along with Courteney Cox, <strong>3000 Miles To Graceland<\/strong>)  are the only people involved whose careers seemed to rinse off the stain  the box-office bomb fallout left on everyone involved. The director,  Gary Goddard and screenwriter, David Odell never really worked in film  again. The producers Golan and Globus were hit so hard by the failure of  this (along with the devastation <strong>Superman IV<\/strong> reaped), that they never  fully recovered and it marked the beginning of the end of Cannon  Pictures. The cast, outside of the previously mentioned three, all but  disappeared. And so on&#8230; It&#8217;s sad, but when you watch the film, it  makes sense.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8050 aligncenter\" title=\"Who Designed This Place\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Who-Designed-This-Place.jpg\" alt=\"Who Designed This Place\" width=\"546\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Arguably one of the biggest downfalls (so far as critics were  probably concerned, but went unnoticed to me until recent re-watchings)  is the blatant, near disgusting rip-off job that the filmmakers pulled  from the <strong>Star Wars Franchise<\/strong>. Examples:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A blond-haired, sword-wielding, pure-heart hero: Luke Skywalker  has become He-Man Sparkbleeder.<br \/>\n&#8211; A dark, sinister, cloak-wearing  creep with lightning powers: Darth Vader and the Emperor have become  Skeletor.<br \/>\n&#8211; Identical cannon-fodder evil guys: The White Colored Stormtroopers  have become The Black Colored Centurians<br \/>\n&#8211; The helpful and wise comic  relief little person: Yoda has become Gwildor<br \/>\n&#8211; There is a light  side and a dark side: The Force has become The Power<br \/>\n&#8211; The small group of heroic fighters: The Rebels have become The  Resistance<br \/>\n&#8211; The lame (yet endearing in the case of <strong>Star Wars<\/strong>),  couple that unwittingly gets wrapped up in the conflict: R2 and C-3PO  have become Kevin and Julie.<br \/>\n&#8211; The final battle takes place in a throne room along dangerous  ill-designed walkways<br \/>\n&#8211; The wrinkly old cloaked bastard is thrown  over one such walkway<\/p>\n<p>Not to mention <strong>Masters<\/strong> features land  speeders, laser guns, a \u2018hey-look-we\u2019re-all-cleaned-up-and-being-presented-with-awards-in-front-of-a-room-full-of-good-guy-soldiers-just-before-the-end-of-the-movie\u2019  scene AND a poster drawn by Drew Struzan. So the lesson to take away from all this is that, if you&#8217;re  going to take 90% of your project from other beloved movies in the same  genre, you might want to make sure that the end product at least matches  the original in quality, or have it be a straight up satire. <strong>Masters Of  The Universe<\/strong> was neither. And when compounded with the betrayal felt by  hardcore He-Man fans for not following the source material, the project  was officially F.U.B.A.R.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part though, I forgive it and the people involved, if  for nothing else than pure childhood nostalgia. And when you understand  what this film is, I think most action fans could get a kick out of it  as well. Far more violent than it had any sense to be (once again, considering it&#8217;s  target audience), death abounds in <strong>Masters<\/strong>. Sure, there isn&#8217;t any blood,  but there are a shit ton of sparks, over-the-top death screams and  explosions. Just like a live-action 80s cartoon\u2014not He-Man, really, but  close enough to the ilk that I think most can dig it.<\/p>\n<p>Fun, exciting, and an unintentional laugh riot, my only real gripe  remains that there is way too much time spent on those teenage dipshits  and not nearly enough on He-Man. Something I would very much like to ask  Lundgren about, as it&#8217;s unclear to whether or not it&#8217;s that he was  featured too much, not enough, or at all that lead him to say that  playing He-Man was his <em><strong>&#8220;lowest point as an actor&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> and that <em><strong>&#8220;Masters of  the Universe was a kids&#8217; movie&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> in which he couldn&#8217;t do much as an actor while <strong>&#8220;running around in swim trunks and chest armor&#8221;<\/strong>. And this coming from the guy who went on to make <strong>The Last Sentinel<\/strong> and <strong>Retrograde<\/strong>. Ouch.<\/p>\n<p>But, despite what Dolph said and however bad it may be (read: is), I still recommend <strong>Masters Of\u00a0 The Universe<\/strong> to anyone that loved the 80s and thinks that the <strong>Star Wars<\/strong> films  were in need of more action, more nonsensical plot-lines and more  chiseled oily pectorals. Until next time, good journey, and may the  power be with you.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. An interesting fact: a script for a <strong>Masters Of The Universe<\/strong> sequel was written, but went on to become the script for <strong>Cyborg<\/strong> (1989).  Kinda makes you wonder what was kept and what was added, huh? Only  Albert Pyun knows&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cLive the journey, for every destination  is but a doorway to another.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> And if you find a giant musical  television achievement award looking thing in a cemetery, don\u2019t  automatically assume that it\u2019s just <em><strong>\u201c\u2026one of those new Japanese  synthesizers.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> It could end up being an intergalactic key to the cosmos.  Or a dirty-bomb. Either way, best not fuck with it.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[THE  AOBG ACTION CHECKLIST]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n<h3><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>[X] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d<br \/>\n[X] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Crotch Attack<br \/>\n[X] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are<br \/>\n[X] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel<br \/>\n[X] Factory\/Warehouse\/Castle<br \/>\n[X] Giant Explosion(s)<br \/>\n[X] Heavy Artillery<br \/>\n[X] Improvised Weapon(s)<br \/>\n[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation<br \/>\n[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)<br \/>\n[X] Manly Embrace(s)<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage<br \/>\n[X] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)<br \/>\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property<br \/>\n[X] Shoot Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)<br \/>\n[X] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)<br \/>\n[X] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Tis The Season<br \/>\n[X] Torture Sequence(s)<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Unnecessary Sequel<br \/>\n[X] Vehicle Chase(s)<br \/>\n[\u00a0 ] Vigilante Justice<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><strong><span style=\"color:  #ff0000;\">[TOTAL: 18 outta 25]<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8042 aligncenter\" title=\"He Has The Power\" src=\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/He-Has-The-Power.jpg\" alt=\"He Has The Power\" width=\"544\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>Masters  Of The Universe (1987) \u00a9 Cannon Films, Inc <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>\/  Review <\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #ffff00;\"><strong>\u00a9  AllOuttaBubbleGum.com and Ty &#8216;RANTBO&#8217; Hanson<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[THE CHALK-OUTLINE] Masters Of The Universe (1987): Breakdown by RANTBO A barbarian, an old man, a woman and a midget team up with two teenagers to do battle with an evil league of monsters lead by a skeleton, whose lust for power could bring destruction and darkness to the universe. ~cough-cough~ Oh, man&#8230; that&#8217;s some &#8230; <a title=\"AMB: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/amb-masters-of-the-universe-1987\/\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">AMB: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}