Movie Reviews

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ review: Not a Dud

This is no game.

April 2, 2023

I went to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with my nine year old daughter. I’ve played D&D a bit over the years and have always enjoyed it as an RPG. My daughter, on the other hand, had no experience with it. When she saw a trailer for the movie I wasn’t sure how she’d react, but the humor and weird creatures in the trailer captured her imagination. I have seen the previous D&D movie from 2000 so I had some trepidation. Both for my own sanity and because there were questionable elements in that film that I wouldn’t want to subject my daughter to. The new film has none of those problems and both my daughter and I found it to be funny and memorable.

The plot has a typical adventure setup: the main character has a sad backstory which necessitates him getting a band of misfits together to steal something which eventually leads to betrayal, adventure, and the possibility of redemption.

True to D&D form, the band of misfits are of different D&D races and classes. Our main character is Edgin, played by Chris Pine, a handsome human bard and the leader and brains of the group. His daughter Kira is played by Chloe Coleman. His main partner Holga, played by Michelle Rodriguez, is a jacked and aggressive human barbarian. Rounding out the core group is Simon, a timid half-elf sorcerer, played by Justice Smith.

We also have Hugh Grant playing Forge, an ambitious human rogue, and Sofina, a brooding human wizard played by Daisy Head. Later Edgin recruits Simon’s former acquaintance Doric, a shapeshifting tiefling druid (Sophia Lillis) and at one point they are helped by Xenk, a human paladin who ages more slowly than a normal human (Regé-Jean Page). Bradley Cooper even makes an hilarious cameo appearance as a halfling.

Now, I’m not a D&D expert. I’ve played a few characters, mostly human wizards, but I don’t have a lot of locations, spells, or lore memorized. Despite that, I recognized some of the locations and spells in Honor Among Thieves. Would a diehard fan love it? I’m not sure. I don’t think they would hate it. Personally, I thought the mix of magic, world-building and action was very good. I never felt the action-sequence fatigue I often do in blockbusters these days.

For instance, the recent Marvel movie Ant Man and Wasp in Quantumania, despite moving quickly, plastered over everything with handwaving at every turn and seemingly endless CGI battle sequences that to me made that movie boring. Not so in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Indeed, the big final battle remained interesting throughout precisely because we got to see different kinds of fighting and magic used in imaginative ways within the clear rules of the world they had built up to that point.

I would have loved more detail about the ingredients and rituals behind the magical spells used in the film. However, I am quite certain my daughter would have been bored had they done so. I feel they balanced these things very well for a wide audience and included enough verbal and visual nods for the D&D geeks in the audience.

Unlike the 2000 film, where they clearly overreached in scope, Honor Among Thieves felt like it was the correct size for the story and talent involved. For example, the maze sequence in the new film was an interesting, magic-based obstacle that represented a genuine and sprawling challenge to our adventurers. In the 2000 film it was a minuscule and laughable farce that made you feel bad for all the talented people who worked on it. Similarly, the new film’s dragon sequence is action-packed and both fun and funny. In the 2000 film viewers were subjected to some of the worst-looking CGI dragons imaginable, taking filmgoers out of the story immediately.

[Warning: small spoiler in this next paragraph]

The new movie even uses practical effects in memorable and interesting ways. At one point, Xenk the paladin saves a cat person’s child. The cat person and cat child appear to be done in practical suits of fur and animatronics rather than CGI. Despite the obviousness of the effects, the scene sticks with me as a fascinating and memorable one. There was something about the care, expertise, and craftmanship put into them, and perhaps the staging of the whole scene, which really grabbed me. They walked a very fine line between serious and parody throughout the film and, in my opinion, managed to achieve that balance of heartfelt and hilarious that many films attempt, but fail to attain.

dungeons & dragons

Honor Among Thieves has the writing, acting, 3D animation and visual effects, and directing talent to go along with the epic scope of the story and do it justice. The world they created on screen felt bigger, more diverse and mysterious than the story alone. This left me feeling excited about future D&D movie adventures.

Content-wise, the movie is rated PG-13. I don’t recall anything particularly objectionable except some violence and one brief veiled threat of sexual assault. That was when a male orc encounters a female human in a dungeon. My favorite character was Holga the barbarian because she had some funny deadpan quips and was a badass. My daughter’s favorite character was Doric the tiefling druid, because she was independent but helpful and could change into different animals.

Of course, the real stars of the film, the ones with clear character arcs, are Edgin, his daughter Kira, and to a lesser extent Simon. All of the actors did a great job of portraying their characters, keeping things believable and heartfelt while maintaining solid group dynamics and comic timing. I recommend this movie, as does my daughter. I think anyone who enjoys D&D, fantasy, or even just comedic adventures will find it entertaining. Finally, D&D fans have something they can show to prospective fans!