[Movie Review] Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Plot Summary: A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
Directors: John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Writers: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio
Runtime: 2 hours 14 mins
Main Cast:- Chris Pine as Edgin
- Michelle Rodriguez as Holga
- Regé-Jean Page as Xenk
- Justice Smith as Simon
- Sophia Lillis as Doric
- Hugh Grant as Forge
Review by: Samuel
This film tells a story I enjoyed, starring characters I enjoyed who are portrayed by actors I enjoyed. It is a fun time with a lot of laughs. The cast of characters is spearheaded by our main duo of Holga and Edgin (Rodriguez and Pine respectively) who are joined by a hilariously bad sorcerer (Justice Smith) and a shapeshifting druid (Sophia Lillis). They are on a mission to fix a situation they caused and save Edgin’s daughter in the process.
What I Liked:
I truly enjoyed watching this band of characters on screen together. Their chemistry and comedic time worked well as they all played off of each other. The biggest sin a film can commit is not drawing you in, and I am very happy (and surprised) by how much I believed in the world these characters inhabited, and that is a testament to the actors and director.
I also enjoyed the comedy for the most part (more on that later). This script was written by the mind behind Horrible Bosses and Game Night, so I knew it was going to be funny and it (mostly) did not disappoint. When this movie was funny, it was REALLY funny and each character had their time to shine in it, which is refreshing as comic relief is often placed on one character alone.
Finally, the story overall worked. I had an issue with the medium that was chosen to tell it (more on that later), but I found myself genuinely interested in seeing these characters progress toward their goal.
Probably the biggest compliment I can give the film is that I hope there is a sequel. It’s not perfect but there is a foundation, and working out a few kinks could make this a viable franchise.
What I Didn’t Like:
Okay, so this is strange. I enjoyed the characters, the overall story, and the cast of actors on screen very much. However, I didn’t like THIS story for them in a movie format. As a game of Dungeons and Dragons often goes, this movie is a series of fetch quests. The entire first and second acts just jump from scene to scene. A character will say “I think we need X” and then immediately you see them in the location to get X. This happened enough that it kind of felt like 5-6 different stories were being told in succession because each fetch quest was its own episode. I honestly believe this would have succeeded FAR better as a 10-episode streaming series so that there are clear breaks defined after each fetch quest is complete. Because honestly, so much happens in the 2-hour run time, that by the 3rd act came around I thought we were going into hour 3 of the film.
So, I just think this is one of those times where a film would be better served as a TV show; and it’s a TV show I would most definitely watch.
But, the biggest sin of the film is completely on the marketing department. This movie is hilarious but the best jokes were all ruined in the trailer. I would watch a scene and know the exact line that was coming so it wasn’t funny. There were a lot of awkward silences in my theater during moments when there should have been laughter. It’s truly sad because the moments not shown in the trailer hit- and they hit hard, with full belly laughs.
Also, just mention it- the action shown was meh. There is nothing, action-wise, that you will be remembering.
Summary
Overall, this movie is the definition of the word “Mid.” I would like to see these characters again, and I think I would even re-watch the film. But in that re-watch, I would be fast-forwarding to the scenes I enjoyed.
