‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’: Slightly Askew but Incredibly Fun
(Courtesy Deadline)
April 20, 2023
“Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is a beckoning call for big budget action movies in almost every sense. With grand scale practical effects mixed with flashy CGI and a zany main cast, the film promises a frolicking ride through the world of Dungeons and Dragons that almost works perfectly, if not for a few almost too convenient narrative decisions.
Zany Hijinks
The film opens in a stark icy landscape in a brutal ironclad medieval prison. We meet our two main characters, Helga the barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez) and Edgin the bard (Chris Pine), in one of the myriad of cells. They speak to a committee, trying to convince them of their good behavior, espousing a backstory in a way similar to how an actual D&D player would. Everything is then thrust into motion when they use an Aarakocra, basically a bird person, named Jarnathan to fly out of the prison and escape to freedom.
The rest is a string of mayhem and mishaps only fitting for a D&D movie, mirroring the same way actual Dungeons and Dragons games feel. Sometimes spells don’t work and other times they work in the most unexpected situations. Plans are made, backup plans are made and backup plans to the backup plans are made just in case the initial plans fail.
Hugh Grant plays a previous member of the main party who betrays them and now rules over a city called Waterdeep. Every scene seems to be chock full of D&D easter eggs, some of which only hardcore players and fans might spot.
Incongruent Plot Sequences
Despite the constant laughs and scattered adventure, many of the events of the film seem cobbled together and bloated. A midpoint scene entails the characters getting help to attain a magical relic to help them on their journey. If it weren’t for the dashingly charming Rege-Jean Page playing a no-nonsense paladin who assists them, the entire sequence would’ve been unnecessary. Oh, and the enormous chonky dragon was pretty cool too. The sequence just seemed to have no real purpose other than being similar to a filler fetch quest in a real life D&D game.
Another questionable plot point entails the party releasing gold from a flying blimp-like vehicle in the air in order to evacuate the citizens in an arena before it is engulfed in a red cloud of dark magic. It seems to me that anyone would evacuate in the face of mortal danger, regardless of gold falling from the sky to entice them.
On a side note, none of the characters were remotely queer in the slightest, despite D&D being extremely popular among the LGBTQ+ community. But, despite these minor incongruences, the film is filled with a lot of heart and an equal amount of laughs to boot.
One thing that this movie proves is that we need more big budget adventure movies with practical effects using real sets. The film holds a tangibility to its landscapes and prop design that is a far cry from most other action and genre films that hit the box office nowadays. Something just seemed missing from the constant barrage of hijinks and multiple plot threads that prevented this movie from being truly great. If you are looking for a good time, still give this movie a try, but if you are a film snob, then this one might not be for you.
Ian Hall • Apr 21, 2023 at 12:44 am
The film cost more than $150 million to produce and tens of millions more have been spent on marketing and distribution. It flopped badly in the international market and was utterly squashed by Mario Brothers at home, which means that despite some positive ratings (93% on Rotten Tomatoes but only 7.6/10 on IMDB) it is the biggest commercial flop of the year so far. That might have something to do with Hasbro, the toy company that owns D&D, upsetting the entire creative community that supports the game by trying to impose an unfavourable new licencing agreement. Whatever the case, it is going to be very hard to justify building a franchise on such weak returns.