‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Delivers Rollicking Good Fun | Review
For nearly fifty years, Dungeons and Dragons has dominated pop culture conversations, creeping into every nook and cranny of modern-day fantasy series and guiding the design of some of the most beloved video games on the market. With that hefty history behind it, an adaptation like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves may be daunting for moviegoers that haven’t dipped their toes into the…. Forgotten Realms? I couldn’t begin to tell you anything about the realms of DnD. If you’re like me, then rest assured that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have crafted a world that is completely accessible for audiences, whether you’ve rolled in a hundred campaigns or if you’re just here for the fantasy of it all.
My own DnD knowledge is fairly limited: compromised mostly of random phrases I’ve picked up over the years, a general idea of the character archetypes at play, and a deep understanding that at the heart of any campaign is fun. Honor Among Thieves really excels at that third attribute by delivering a rollicking good time that is stuffed to the scales—like a pudgy dragon—with adventure, heart, and humor.
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Before the film even gets into the real meat and potatoes of the adventure it’s about to embark on, it introduces the core members of the campaign in a prologue of sorts. The bard and former Harper, Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine); the barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) who happens to be his closest friend and the woman who stepped up to mother his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman); Simon Aumar (Justice Smith) a fledgling sorcerer whose wild magic almost always gets him into trouble; and the ambitiously cunning rogue Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) is lacking the whole “heart of gold” thing that makes rogues so charming. But it’s after this merry band of thieves disbands, that things really pick up.
With new motivations in place and the looming threat of the Red Wizard Sofina (Daisy Head), Edgin and Holga reunite with old friends, face unexpected enemies, and recruit new members into their campaign—like the delightful tiefling, Doric (Sophia Lillis). Their mission takes them all across the Dungeons and Dragons map, sending them into deep, dark depths, luring them into clever traps, and even forcing them to resurrect the dead (a few times over). All the while, the characters grow, learn, and explore what it means to be a family. It’s surprisingly heartwarming stuff, packaged beneath layers of disarming humor, fantastical scenarios, and so much more.
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Not to be left out, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves also features a dashingly handsome paladin by the name of Xenk Yendar (Regé-Jean Page) who is very much designed as that NPC that everyone becomes obsessively attached to, even after his purpose is fulfilled. Though, given how some of the plot unfolds, should Honor Among Thieves land a sequel, there’s plenty of room for Xenk to walk straight into the thick of things again.
If you strip away the DnD of it all, you’re left with a highly compelling fantasy-filled medieval romp. Which, at the end of the day, is basically what Dungeons and Dragons is. The lexicon of information is easy to comprehend and the script, penned by Goldstein, Daley, and Michael Gilio, makes quick work of laying out the rules of the universe, the subtle political tones, and the good vs evil vibes that help keep things afloat. While the stunning visual effects are leagues beyond the classic fantasies of the mid-aughts, there’s something about Honor Among Thieves that feels distinctly familiar to audiences who shaped their knowledge of fantasy realms around films like Eragon, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Stardust. There are even aspects of the film that conjure up memories of classics like Dragonslayer and Dragonheart, though those comparisons may be more difficult to make due to the tonal disparity between them and Honor Among Thieves.
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By design, Dungeons and Dragons relies heavily on tropes to propel campaigns forward, which is what has aided in making it such a timeless game. Likewise, Honor Among Thieves relies on classic fantasy tropes to provide motivation, fuel, and character growth. While the tropes ultimately help the film connect with its audience and fill in the blanks with the cultural understanding inherently linked to these specific tropes, one specific one is the film’s weakest link. It skirts around some of the more frustrating aspects of the “dead wife” trope, but still falls victim to the dreamy recollections of her playing house, mothering a child, and hiding beneath the covers with her husband. It’s the only aspect of the film that knocks it back from total perfection in my book, but far from a dealbreaker.
On the heels of feel-good crowd-pleasers like Top Gun: Maverick, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is another much-needed addition to the cinema slate, delivering laughs, heart, and the right sort of emotion to bring audiences back again and again. It’s light-hearted fun, delightfully epic action, and the ensemble cast of dreams. What more could you possibly ask for? Except for more!
