[Solid Rock Fist Up]
It’s 2023 kids, and movies are fun again. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is pretty great. No, seriously. The long awaited movie adaption of the legendarily popular role playing game is a wildly entertaining and hilarious adventure that never takes itself too seriously while paying tremendous respects to its own source material.
As the audience, we are dropped into this magical, fantastical world where we meet our team of reluctant heroes after a botched heist lands Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) in jail. After a ridiculously daring escape, the duo teams up with a young, untrained wizard, Simon (Justice Smith), and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a shape shifter, to steal an magical artifact and rescue Edgin’s daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman) from the trickster Forge (Hugh Grant). It’s a pretty straightforward plot that takes an off-the-wall turn at every possible roll of the dice.
When a cast really has a blast making a movie together, that energy and chemistry tends to bleed into the movie itself. It’s clear from the get-go that everyone in this movie was on the same page and 100 percent dedicated to making a silly, fun, entertaining movie that also captured the imagination of the game itself. First of all, Chris Pine isn’t in bad movies. And here he is allowed to be the Chris Pine we need rather than a stuffy one-note character. He’s funny, he sings, he’s a charming and lovable dumb-luck idiot. Michelle Rodriguez doesn’t stretch her acting muscles beyond what we’ve seen her do before. The chemistry between Justice Smith and Chloe Coleman is adorable. And Hugh Grant plays his role with a whimsical glee.
Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Game Night) from a screenplay they penned along with Michael Gilio, the movie stays true to the game without alienating members of the audience that have no clue what Dungeons and Dragons is outside of what they’ve gleamed from watching Stranger Things. It allows for die-hard fans to see their beloved game fully realized. They’ve been able to do what seemed impossible, taking a random and chaotic RPG (role playing game) and deliver a movie that has something for everyone. It’s what the original Pirates of the Caribbean was before Disney tripled down on Jack Sparrow. It’s fun. It’s mindless. And it doesn’t leave you with an empty feeling after you’ve theatre.
It’s hard to say what doesn’t work. It’s such a goofy movie and at the same time, it takes itself and the source material very seriously. Sometimes a character’s motivations are stretched a little thin in order to keep the pieces in place for the third act. There are a few “side quests” that could have been trimmed or cut completely, especially a third-act maze sequence, which is fun to watch, but doesn’t do much for the story. But it never drags. It never feels like too much. If anything it leaves you wanting more or at least to see where Daley and Goldstein will go next. This is a franchise after all. Nothing stands alone.
If you’re into D&D—I myself, have never played a “campaign”—but if you are, you can see the choices, game play, and decisions a player might roll into. Characters learn powers. Sometimes they work, sometimes not so much. There are tons of fun and exciting easter eggs D&D fans will be giddy over. And it’s structured in a way that makes for a fun afternoon at the movies but also lays the framework for what makes D&D a fun and appealing to its fanbase.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a home run for fans who have pined (no pun intended) for a faithful adaptation of the role playing game that truly captures the fun, imagination, and personality of the game.
Lover of movies and tacos. Ad man. Author. Member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Founder of the Terror on the Plains Horror Festival. Creator and voice of the Reel Hooligans podcast.
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