Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
LATEST: D&DHAT is on its way to a 40 million domestic opening weekend! And that’s because…
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a mighty fine adaptation of the famous tabletop game, which manages to please fans and non-fans alike.
I can vouch personally for the latter part of the statement: I really enjoyed this family-friendly fantasy action adventure, while everything I know about D&D can be written on the back of a stamp and then would you still have plenty of room left.
And I gather from the enthusiastic online reactions that have been circulating since the film recently premiered at South by Southwest that the film also appeals to die-hard fans of the game.
Writers and directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have created a film that happily borrows from other fantasy films - Lord of the Rings in particular - yet develops a character all its own.
Sympathetic heroes (played by Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis), a couple of daring villains (Hugh Grant and Daisy Head), an honorable nobleman (Regé-Jean Page), a cemetery full of talking skeletons and a whole range of monsters ensure that you are entertained for a little over two hours.
A little less exposition would not have hurt, but Honor Among Thieves is the kind of mischievous film in which all the rules that are drawn up one moment are thrown overboard the next.
So it's not so bad if you sometimes miss something or, like me, don't recognize all of the Easter eggs, of which I’m sure there are many.
The story about a band of misfits searching for a lost relic to bring the deceased wife of Edgin (Pine) back to life forms the basis of this colorful spectacle, with the visual effects certainly adding quite a lot to the film, especially towards the end.
That they are also trying to save Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) from the clutches of the evil Forge adds yet another dimension to the already gripping story.
Chris Pine is as always fun to watch, this time as the team leader who eggs people on while really not having much of a plan himself. Hugh Grant as the main villain is certainly an inspired choice, with his comic sensibilities on full display. While Daisy Head is genuinely scary as his main hench-woman with a mind (and agenda) of her own.
Honor Among Thieves is much better than the Dungeon & Dragons movie (from 2000), in which Jeremy Irons played the villain (quite frankly, that’s about all I remember).
And as it will probably do well commercially, it could also be the start of a new franchise.