Movie Thoughts: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

 

• Released: March 10, 2023
  
• Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
• Running time: 2 h 14 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A band of misfits comes together and goes on a quest put a stop to the evil plans of a lord and his witch ally.

My Thoughts

Full disclosure: I have never once in my life played the board-game Dungeons & Dragons, so I had no idea what to expect going into this movie. But wouldn't you know it, it was fun!

Slightly more detailed plot synopsis: A thief named Edgin and his best friend Holga try to obtain an artifact in hopes of reviving Edgin's deceased wife. The artifact is being held by Lord Forge, who is also holding Edgin's daughter and manipulated her against him. Edgin now gathers together a team in hopes of proving Forge's lies. During their quest, they discover that there's even more afoot: Forge's witch sidekick Sofina has her own plans that involve draining the entire city's population. Edgin and his team will have to step up in order to put a stop to them both.

Fun movie, that's for sure. Very accessible despite me not knowing anything about the board-game it's based on. It's basically pretty generic fantasy, but that doesn't make it bad. I quite liked how many twists and turns the story had. Sure, some of it was a bit predictable, but there was also quite a few times where I had no idea where things were going. I also quite liked our characters, especially our core team and Xenk. They're all distinct and fun and while none of them are perfect, they make for a neat main cast to follow.

The film was also just...genuinely funny. I'd expected it to take itself completely seriously, so this was a pleasant surprise. It does get a bit meta here and there, but there's not a lot of cringy jokes and honestly it just mostly has fun with itself and its characters. Despite this, the serious moments also felt genuinely intense and heartfelt sometimes, which is just nice. If this had been either a total comedy or totally taken itself completely seriously I'm not sure if I'd have liked it as much, but this makes for a nice balance.

Another thing I really appreciate is that this movie just has two main characters who are a man and a woman who are just really close friends. No romance involved whatsoever, something that's just...kind of rare especially when they fall into the same age range and are both single. Edgin and Holga could've so easily been another couple slowly falling in love over the course of the film, especially with Holga basically raising Edgin's daughter Kira alongside him. But instead they're just a really close duo who are just friends, closer to being siblings. Which is just...nice and not something I'd expected. Especially when in the end Holga dies and Edgin can choose to have either her or his dead wife revived. Remember, him seeking the artifact in order to bring back his wife was what got this entire journey started in the first place. But in the end he just decides to bring back his closest friend and it's nice. Not saying that it's never been done before, but it doesn't happen very often where a friendship rather than a romance between a male and female lead is a huge drive for the story, at least not in the movies and series I've been watching.\

Final small aspect I want to give a shout-out to: the amount of practical effects involved. There's obviously still quite a bit of CGI effects and animation here and there, but there's quite a few instances where characters or props or creatures are intricately designed costumes or puppets or animatronics. Just neat.

So yeah...not a perfect movie but it's genuinely fun and exciting. I couldn't tell whether Dungeons & Dragons fans would like this or consider it disappointing, but for me as an outsider I had a good time.