In spite of a rocky first third , Dungeons & Dragons : Honor Among Thievesis a delightful , ifslightly unsurprising , swords and sorcery film that balances the goofball antics of playing tabletop persona - playing games and focused storytelling without sacrificing approachability . It follow a tabloid - tag chemical group of explorer who spend a little too long on their traumatic backstories as they attempt to redress the wrongs of their past . Sort of . That ’s kind of concomitant , really . Despiteall the marketingabout saving a world from evil andfighting epic battles , this is the story of a family struggling to stay together , about a pa and his platonic life partner trying to get back to their kid .
It ’s a bumpy outset for Chris Pine ’s Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez ’ Holga . After pass two years in a panopticon - like ice prison , they finally escape , only to rejoin home and encounter Edgin ’s child , Kira – whom Holga also considers a daughter – missing . As Edgin and Holga trudge from classical Faerun locale to locale with piddling to no flourish ( but with a serious amount of scenic shots ) they fail to find their Kyd . When they finally track Kira down , she ’s in the clutches of the double - crossing scallywag , Forge ( Hugh Grant ) , and an sometime foe .
The only way to get her back is to slip her aside in the midsection of a origin - and - shekels prizefighter / labyrinth / Hunger Games event that Forge is put on in guild to make loads – and I mean fucktons – of gold . Edgin and Holga travel around Faerun ( again , very scenic , very nice ) and forgather a squad to help them along the way , including their old friend , Simon the Sorcerer ( Justice Smith ) , who does n’t really believe in himself very much , and Doric ( Sophia Lillis ) , a Tiefling Druid who hates human race because of a mysterious personal betrayal . They also get assist out by the immortal ? -ish ? Paladin Xenk ( Regé - Jean Page ) who has a mysterious tie to the Red Sorcerers .
Image: Paramount Pictures
Amid daring schemes , exciting fight , and flashbacks ( like , a lot of flashbacks ) , DirectorsJonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daleyhave pull together a substantial film . The comedy is a little rushed , but the jokes all domain , the character mostly come together as charming iterations of definitive D&D course , and there ’s not a poor performance out of the chemical group . Hugh Grant might be the only individual you could indicate is n’t rip his free weight , but he ’s not given much to do except ooze skeezey rizz and lie , so I ’ll forgive him . Even the evil necromancer , Sofina ( Daisy Head ) , feels dynamical and convincingly nefarious , even if her motivation are just “ ruin the city on behalf of my overlords , ” which … fine , plenty of films disregard a baddie ’s motivations in party favour of the submarine sandwich , but it does herald the deeply predictable ending of the film .
The plot clips along , everything else keeps up , the Seth are pretty , utilize a kind of charmingly common medieval fantasy ocular everyone can recognise , and the function of both very good virtual issue and seamless VFX ties the whole package up in a pretty fore . It ’s an easy watch , funny when it needs to be , emotionally compromise when it can , and full of jape and the small ( so , so little ) of nods towards D&D traditional knowledge . Which is in all likelihood for the best ! D&D lore is notoriously deep and sometimes contradictory , so referencing it in kick the bucket , or just appropriate background consequence to imply a depth observe the film lightweight and allows people to enjoy the very fun engagement scene and the infrangible mantrap of Page when he shows up for a glorious 30 minutes in Honor Among Thieves .
Maybe it ’s meta , but one of my favorite parts of the film was how carefully the writers and directors deliberate all of the characters as possibilities of how the histrion make for the biz . There are players who are heartfelt and all in , who make the campaign about their pursuance for personal wholeness . They only have it away half of the rule but they ’re really invested . ( This is Edgin , btw . ) There ’s the soundless storage tank who only speaks when she really needs to say something , who knows all the rules utterly and whenever you need someone to own a fight , everyone waits for her bout . There are players who really desire to be a magical user and do n’t quite know how to use spell slots . Players who have an equivocal backstory but are definitely prepared to be spectacular at the fall of a hat , and are just following along until they catch on to how to toy the secret plan . And of course , the player who has programing payoff , and when they show up the DM makes sure to give the table a game that pretend the uses their theatrical role to the broad extent because of course this is the guy rope who insists on playing the Paladin they first come out playing in college and he ’s at point 18 or something . It ’s absurd , giddy bits of detail to concenter on , but I sleep together it . It felt like no matter how much of Dungeons & Dragons is in the film ( which is , frankly , very little ) the movie was still deep invested in provide a portrait of what games are like .
Image: Paramount Pictures
My big qualm with this film is that it is so clearly a setup for the next campaign . Many character arcs stay on on the precipice of a zenith , at least three storyline remain mysterious and open - terminate – even separate , and handsome men in cloaks steer at hide depths we ’ve only just begun to unveil . Not all these things ask to be resolved , and , in defense of the film , most films do n’t resolve everything , but the sheer heavy - handedness of this particular narrative is deeply frustrative . Page ’s Xenk is a huge part of this , as his unexplained tie to the Szass Tam practically begs for a subsequence . Not to mention that Tam does n’t even show up in this motion picture ! I want to see their contracts . I want to bonk how long these thespian are locked in .
All of this open - endedness says that the spot of this film is not to emulate a biz of D&D , or even to emulate anything in the fantasy genre at all . The point of this flick is to set up a franchise . We always knew this was the end , but it ’s disappointing to see it so laid out so transparently . And , for the phonograph record , as a proof of concept , it succeeds . It ’s a good film ! I laughed out gimcrack multiple times ! But it ’s frustrating to find out a motion-picture show and know that there will be more , dozens more , if Hasbro has their way , all adjudicate to hold out up to Honor Among Thieves . It ’s just a bummer . I can imagine it now ; Dungeons & Dragons : The Emerald Enclave ; Rise of the Red Sorcerer ; Reign of Death . I ’m resigning myself to covering at least three more of these , with no material guarantee that they will be anywhere nearly as good as this one .
disregarding , Honor Among Thieves is well worth a trip to the theaters . It ’s merriment . It treats its characters like people , it treats its hearing with respect , and despite the bitter aftertaste of franchise opportunity I can hear echoing around in my brain like pitch meeting reverb , it ’s a unspoiled level and cause all the right nod towards Dungeons & Dragons without ever getting lose in the traditional knowledge . With a shameless reliance on narration tropes nestled among genuinely hearty action / comedy dialogue and excitingly frantic military action sequences , Dungeons & Dragons : laurels Among Thieves does what it ’s meant to do : leave me want more .
Dungeons & Dragons : Honor Among stealer will be free in theaters on March 31 .
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Dungeons & DragonsFantasyHasbroHugh GrantMichelle RodriguezSimonSmith
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