I genuinely love the 1987 version. I know its terrible by every aspect you would judge a film but for entirely nostalgiac reasons, I love this film and will defend it to anyone. I knew that this film would, on a technical level and creative level, surpass the 1987 version. The setup of the film is that Prince Adam is sent away from Eternia after Skeletor attacks the palace and after spending 15 years trying to track down the sword and is brought back to Eternia to take on Skeletor. As a plot goes its pretty basic but then it doesn't need to be overly complicated when there is so much world building and supporting characters to introduce.
When I heard that Jared Leto was cast as Skeletor my heart sank because he has managed to be terrible in pretty much everything he is in although he was passable as a soulless character in TRON: Ares but in this he was actually pretty good. I was surprised how much I enjoyed his version of Skeletor. There were a couple of moments where Skeletor was funny and I didn’t know that Leto had that range. It shows how good he can be when he reigns in the pretentious attitude. If you had told me a year ago that I would enjoy a Jared Leto performance then I would have questioned what drugs you were taking. They got the look of Skeletor right and he comes across as appropriately menacing and is close enough to being OTT to get away with it. I thought that Nicholas Galitzine was quite good as Adam. He is believable as HR Adam and then when the story needs him to be he-man then he looks the part. Sadly we do have to spend an hour with him as HR Adam but the moment when he becomes He-man is a great moment and he looks the part whilst still having the charisma to be a strong lead. There is a lovely moment between Galitzine and Dolph Lundgren. It was nice to have Lundgren actually say something instead of just a humorous cameo shot. It doesn't really add anything to the story but it was a nice moment for people like me to appreciate. Idris Elba seemed to be having fun as Duncan who starts off as the tough teacher before becoming the drunk has-been and then back to being the Man-At-Arms that we know him to be and its just nice to see Elba in something other than Sky adverts. He’s a great actor when he decides to actually be in films and TV shows instead of adverts.
There are a couple of things that the 1987 version did better. I thought that Alison Brie made a poor Evil-Lyn. She just wasn't very……evil. She was trying to do humour and it just didn’t work. I thought that Meg Foster did a better job. I also thought Kang was better in the 1987 version. It looked creepy and evil and a genuine threat but in this film with all the characters he is reduced to a couple of shots but even when we saw him on screen it didn’t look as good. I also thought that Tesla was at time annoying because they were determined to try and show her as a strong female and felt that being dismissive to what her drunk father said was the best way to go about it.
There is a Flash Gordon vibe which I wasnt expecting and there are a couple of Highlander references including a song from the 1986 classic and I wondered why they went for this vibe and it was revealed at the end of the film when its revealed the Brian May was involved mainly with the guitar and I thought then that it all made sense. The score from Daniel Pemberton is quite good for the film. I have liked his scores in the past (most recently Project Hail Mary) and thought that it was appropriate for the film. Some of the songs used did make me wonder whether James Gunn was involved but he wasn't (obviously).
The film inevitably has post credit scenes. The first scenes gives up an appearance from Orko which explains the message of the film, the second one hinting at the return of She-ra and the third and final sees Evil-Lyn pick up Skeletor’s Skull which I think everyone saw coming. That didn’t have the impact of the 1987 version but I suppose you can’t have everything. Should we get a sequel it was clear they were going to need a way of getting Skeletor back in the film.
I got the He-Man movie I wanted even with some issues with the script and Alison Brie and whilst it will never diminish my love for the 1987 version, I can honestly say that this film was everything that it needed to be. I’m not sure how this will do given that Mandalorian and Grogu has underperformed at the box office but hopefully it wont be 39 years before we get another He-man film.
No comments:
Post a Comment