The Doctor’s Diagnosis: B+
As much as I love fantasy movies, I don’t know much about Dungeons & Dragons. I’ve seen the awful movie from 2000 and its two sequels (which also aren’t particularly good, but fun in a Saturday afternoon television, Hercules and Xena kind of way), but I’ve never played the board game or read the books or seen the 80s cartoon show. I actually would like to try the board game, but it’s not the most accessible thing for newcomers. Therefore, I approached Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with a high degree of indifference. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this movie. Entertaining and funny without requiring knowledge of the source material, Honor Among Thieves is a fun, lighthearted adventure movie with a surprisingly endearing cast of characters.
The plot feels very much like a video game RPG and, presumably because I’ve never played it, like a table-top RPG. Our main character is a bard named Edgin Darvis (played by Chris Pine), who has just been released from prison following a botched robbery. Darvis left his daughter in the care of an old accomplice named Forge (played by Hugh Grant), who has been named the Lord of the kingdom of Neverwinter. However, Forge has turned into quite a prick and has lied to Darvis’ daughter about the circumstances leading to his arrest. Now aligned with an evil red wizard named Sofina, Forge has Darvis and his friends arrested and plots to rob the townspeople. Darvis needs his team of friends to infiltrate the castle, take down the red wizard and save his daughter.
I hated the trailers for this movie and thought that this was going to just be D&D done in the style of Marvel. While there is still some truth to that, Honor Among Thieves manages to include elements that the Marvel movies have been sorely lacking for a couple of years: endearing characters and jokes that are actually funny. Starting with the latter point, this movie actually made me laugh out loud at several points and I certainly wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting modern meta humor, but what I got was more akin to Army of Darkness at times. A particular highlight is a sequence with our heroes interrogating a resurrected corpse. This featured some of the most clever, quick dialogue that I have seen in a comedy sequence in some time and I honestly don’t remember the last time I actually laughed in a theater. That’s probably because comedies don’t really exist right now, but still notable.
Our main group of characters is probably the most fun, charming group assembled since the first Guardians of the Galaxy (the fact that I often mix up Chris Pine and Chris Pratt also contributes to the comparison). The group is fleshed out by Michelle Rodriguez as Holga Kilgore, a barbarian; Justice Smith as Simon Aumar, a sorcerer; and Sophia Lillis as Doric, a shape-shifting druid. Although Doric gets the least attention in terms of backstory, each has a quirky personality and unique abilities. The chemistry between them is palpable and, similar to a certain ring-based fellowship, it is easy to route for them along their journey. Many reviewers have noted this, but it does often feel like watching an actual group of friends play a real-world version of the game. Hugh Grant is also quite funny as the villain, as the smarmy, overwhelming British-ness of the man is fully unleashed, making him one of the most compelling assholes of recent memory.
Several action sequences are also highly unique and satisfying. A heist involving the use of a portal gun is particularly inventive and fun; I honestly wish that the movie had more scenes that made use of this mechanic because the possibilities are endless. Our heroes must also navigate a maze in the last act (alongside several other adventuring parties in a clever nod to the game) that features an impressive amount of imagination in both design and execution. A shocking amount of thought went into these setpieces, resulting in some of the most entertaining big-budget effects sequences in years.
The film isn’t without its flaws. The red wizard is a fairly generic villain with a fairly generic plan. She’s not a terrible villain, but is quite stock in comparison to the imagination on display elsewhere in the film. Some of the computer effects are a bit on the dodgy side (though the practical makeup effects are excellent) and the script sometimes feels more episodic than it does a singular, focused quest. The iffy story structure is often saved by the charm of the characters, but there are moments when I was left wondering “what were they doing again?”
Those looking for a serious fantasy tale will likely be disappointed, but Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a fun, light-hearted, easy-going entry into the genre. It’s respectful of the source material without (thankfully) feeling the need to try to elevate it and is surprisingly accessible to newbies like myself. I may have never played D&D, but this brought back memories of playing video games like Secret of Mana and Lunar with my brother as we went through copious amounts of Pepsi and Doritos. It may not be perfect, but it is damn fun and hopefully not the last adventure that I see these characters embark upon.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons%3A_Honor_Among_Thieves#/media/File:Theatrical_poster_for_Dungeons_and_Dragons,_Honor_Among_Thieves.jpg
