“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” Review
A team of misfits, thieves and honorable warriors team up to fight the forces of evil in “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” The film is based on the iconic tabletop roleplaying fantasy game.
In the bizarre subgenre of movies based on tabletop games (yes there’s more than one), there was only one great film: the 1985 comedy classic “Clue.” Now, after years of disappointments like “Battleship,” “Oujia” and the 2000 bomb “Dungeons and Dragons,” that number has risen to two with the release of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” With an excellent sense of humor, charismatic characters and a distinct love for the source material, the film is an exciting adventure that is sure to satisfy both longtime players and those who’ve never had to use a D20.
Set in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy land teeming with strange creatures and inspiring quests, a bard named Edgin Davis (Chris Pine) and his barbarian best friend Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) break out of prison two years after being captured stealing a valuable artifact. Seeking to reclaim the artifact and rescue Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) from their traitorous rogue comrade Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), Edgin and Holga assemble a team of the most noble, and available, warriors including the regal paladin Xenk Yendar (Regé-Jean Page), self-conscious sorcerer Simon Aumar (Justice Smith) and shapeshifting druid Doric (Sophia Lillis). Together this fellowship will become wrapped up in a massive journey that might just see them save the day from an evil plot.
Dungeons & Dragons is a very special part of me. It’s not just a game. When I was in college, my friends and I would gather every week and campaign together for hours. It was a fun way to relieve any stress we had related to school by wrapping ourselves in the immersive fantasy world. Plus we had to try and not be killed by whatever creatures our sadistic dungeon master Mark threw at us. I say this because, when I first saw the trailers, I didn’t exactly see a masterpiece nor a disaster. I thought that this was just going to be a run-of-the-mill attempt to get some money from nerds. I was sorely mistaken.
This film is a love letter to everything the game stands for and it feels like fans made this film. “Honor Among Thieves” is bursting with imagination with so many realms and creatures being shown while exciting action sequences are occurring. The fact that I was able to see a gelatinous cube, a mimic and an owlbear on a big screen with a multi-million dollar budget was unbelievable.
There were so many times that the film makes direct references to campaigns and gameplay that made me, as a nerd, melt with joy. In fact, the prison from which Edgin and Holga escape is from a campaign that I spent months playing with my friends in college. However, the film’s screenwriters/directors Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley and additional screenwriter Michael Gillo understand that a large portion of the audience most likely hasn’t played the game and they find fun ways to work how Dungeons & Dragons is played into the plot.
Seeing these characters taking on threats straight from the game was exciting to see as a fan.
For example, Simon may be a sorcerer but there are limits to his magic like how certain spells can only be cast in a certain range of distance. If you’re a fan, you know exactly how it feels to want to use a spell but your foe is too far away resulting in a fun nod from the creators. From the perspective of an audience member, it gives the other characters reasons to contribute to the action since magic can’t solve everything.
The film’s ensemble cast is remarkable for how they play their parts. You see, Pine, Rodriguez, Grant and the rest aren’t performing as incredible fantasy characters. Instead, they’re acting like people who are pretending to be fantasy characters. It feels like the actors were instructed to play these roles as if they were playing a campaign. I would have given anything if the big twist of the film was that the entire story was being played by a bunch of nerds in college. I should know, I was that nerd.
However, just because these adventurers are always cracking jokes doesn't mean that there isn’t any emotional weight. The motivations of Edgin are actually quite strong and I was really feeling for his desire to reunite with his daughter and right the wrongs he’s committed. The comradery between all of these people is believable as well with Edgin and Holga having a delightful friendship that keeps you feeling attached to the story.
Not only was I glad to see that a Dungeons & Dragons film wasn’t taking itself too seriously but I was also happy with how much color the film had. “Honor Among Thieves” never tries to hide what it is. It’s a bright, imaginative world based on a tabletop roleplaying game where you use dice to determine the outcome of events and it relishes that legacy. The action sequences are all filmed in fun ways with the choreography never being hidden by lame editing tricks.
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” also surprised me with how funny it was. While I knew this was going to be a comedy, I didn’t think the trailers were that promising. Now I realize that they were saving the best jokes for the film because I was consistently laughing throughout the entire film’s screening and so was the packed audience I saw it with.
Everyone in the film has great comedic chemistry and there’s a different flavor of comedy from each character. Edgin is the smart-aleck, Holga is quite blunt with her jokes and insults, Xenk is completely serious all the time and Forge is so slimy and two-faced with Hugh Grant’s delivery making me giddy every line.
In 2023, we’re no stranger to seeing plenty of sequels and adaptations of prominent IPs. What “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” delivers is an answer as to why we keep seeing these films. If you put filmmakers who deeply care about the source material and want to give the audience a great time at the helm, they often will make something delightful. As a Dungeons & Dragons player who has had to go on sidequests, attune to objects and manage to survive with just a few hit points left, this adaptation left me satisfied.
