Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (A Film Review)

WARNING: Includes minor spoilers for Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman and Daisy Head

Directed by: Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley

Runtime: 134 minutes

Rating: M (mature audiences, fantasy violence)

Release date: March 10, 2023

If you're of the older sort that's been around since 1974, you might remember the famous tabletop RPG (role playing game) Dungeons and Dragons. And if you were a young person (or fairly middle-aged) around the year 2000, you might also remember the first film adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons, starring Justin Whalin, Marlon Wayans, and Thora Birch. But this new year is all about new reboots, and today we're covering the new adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons, titled Honour Among Thieves, starring Chris Pine (of Wonder Woman fame), Michelle Rodriguez (of Fast and Furious fame) and Justice Smith (who recently starred in one of the newest Jurassic Park reboots).

The film opens with two characters, a bard and a barbarian (played by Pine and Rodriguez respectively) in an icy prison for the crime of thievery from the temple of the mysterious sorcerers known as the Red Wizards. The film moves along rather slowly in between some comedic moments and a piece of gut-punching storytelling intertwining grief, thievery and betrayal that would make even the team at Marvel Entertainment proud (and hopefully make them rethink their formula of making movies). It turns out our bumbling, handsome bard, known as Edgin, lost his wife, leaving him as a single father to their daughter, Kira. He then teams up with the stern barbarian, known as Holga, who not-so-secretly has a soft spot for the young Kira, and together they team up with a young sorcerer named Simon (played by Justice Smith) and a devilishly charming Hugh Grant as the rogue Forge Fitzwilliam, alongside the darkly beautiful Daisy Head as the sorceress Sofina.

They band together to steal what is known as the "Tablet of Reawakening" from a stronghold that belonged to the band of warriors that our beloved Edgin was a part of, known as the Harpers. It is revealed earlier that Edgin, while being a member of the Harpers, arrested a Red Wizard, and they took revenge on him, killing his wife, but not before she had a chance to hide young Kira in a spare closet. Surprise, surprise, the heist goes horribly wrong, and Edgin and Holga are imprisoned, while Simon, Forge and Sofina escape, but only barely. And that brings us back to the present: Edgin and Holga applying to a council for parole. They are interrupted by one of the council members arriving rather late to the session, an anthropomorphised bird-like creature named Jonathan, who they use as their escape plan by way of a window.

Now having escaped, Edgin and Holga travel to the Kingdom of Neverwinter, where they reunite with Forge Fitzwilliam and the sorceress Sofina, only to find out that it was Forge himself, aided by Sofina, who orchestrated Edgin and Holga's capture so he could steal the treasures for himself, and Forge, believing himself to be sympathetic, took in Kira and raised her as his own, while feeding her lies that Edgin no longer cared for her as his daughter. Sofina is also revealed as a Red Wizard and the pair escape, but just barely, and manage to re-recruit Simon, the young amateur sorcerer and Doric, a female who is known as a tiefling druid, whose people are being forced out of their native homes by Forge's forest logging scheme. Another small tidbit: Doric and Simon originally had a short-lived relationship, but Doric rejected Simon long ago, much to his dismay. The four mismatched band of thieves use Doric's shapeshifting powers to their advantage in searching for Forge's vault, and find that they need to find what is known as the "Helm of Disjunction". After an encounter with warriors from an ancient land called Thay, and meeting a paladin named Xenk Yandar (played by the charismatic and darkly handsome Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton fame), they make their way back to Forge's kingdom to stop his evil plans, as well as stop the sorceress Sofina from unleashing a dark and powerful curse upon the land of Neverwinter.

All I will say for the final act of the film is that it is fantastic. Full of practical and special effects, but not so many that it bogs the film down (as many final acts are bogged down by VFX and CGI - ahem! I'm looking at you, Marvel). The film has a little bit of an emotional twist at the end, but altogether, its a lovely film. Not so much of a family film, but older teens, the Gen Xers and the millennials alike will love this film, and the best part is: you don't have to have played the game to understand the film! It does draw from the lore of the game, but it's a wonderful film that doesn't rely too heavily on confusing aspects of lore that has you looking up names and places on Google every five seconds. Although, you might want to brush up on research (just saying!) if you're not entirely familiar with the power systems, names and places in the game.

My final verdict for this film is 8.5/10. It gets that one point detracted because the humour is bit too cheesy at times, and the half a point detracted is because of the one ugly jump scare during the scene of the very first curse in Thay, which feels a lot like that one jump scare with zombie Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (which I think I've also written a review for). Long story short, I hate jump scares, but this film is brilliant, funny and heart-warming from start to finish. Highly recommend!!

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