Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

[Eric Prime]

Discuss

[Reddroast]

Yeah this is a perfect encapsulation of what playing dnd is like

[thajdikt]

Really enjoyed this one. A highly entertaining movie from start to finish. Great set pieces and action. Script is lacking here and there but the cast makes up for it. All the characters gets time to shine and the emotional connection to the characters is there. Also thought the score was great and that the humor mostly landed. It gave me LOTR meets MCU vibe in a positive way. It´s not groundbreaking or anything but it´s a fun time at the movies and the movie feels authentic and not just lets throw in a lot of jokes and action. One of the biggest surprises this year for me as I didn´t expect much.

 

Score: 8/10

[poweranimals]

It's out?

[Morieris]

23 minutes ago, poweranimals said:

It's out?

 

There were several early screenings for the public via Amazon Prime; I saw it on the 19th.

[4815162342]

This movie did a great job at having fun with the setting of D&D without making fun of the setting of D&D

[Cap]

The scene with Rege-Jean Page on the bridge IS D&D.  That's it.  That's the game.

 

DM: Here is my overtly complicated rules and backstory I have created for this session.

Players: Cool, so what if we do this instead?

DM: *rips up script* Okay, so improv time, in 3, 2, 1.

 

This was fun! I took my Mom, who thought she was going to hate it and knows nothing about the game.  But she loved it.  She thought it was really accessible, loved all the characters (especially Grant, Pine, and Page).  And thought it was really funny.  We both also teared up a bit at the end.

 

Like Numbers and reddroast said, I love how D&D this is without trying to be ironic.  There's no punching down here.

 

It also knows what it is: an action-adventure comedy.  I'm not calling it shallow or mindless; more that it knows its genre and excels at its genre.  Which I like.  Sometimes I just want a really good action-adventure comedy.  Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Chris Pine is also off my Shit List for Wonder Woman.  Can we please cast him in like the never-going-to-happen Sunset Blvd. 

 

Spoiler

Speaking of casting, if Majors is truly done, I will take Suave AF Page as Kang conquering universes AND bedrooms as he goes.  My God.  You yummy.

 

[TMP]

This was so much fun. Bradley Cooper’s finest performance

[filmlover]

Very entertaining, and a lot better than what I initially expected from it. Never been a super fan of D&D but this works even for those who have never played the game. There's nothing especially "new" here (it honestly plays like a mix of Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean), but getting the Game Night directors for this was clearly an inspired choice, as they know how to properly mix fantasy action and mythology with appropriate moments of humor (that scene with the revived corpses was serving Monty Python and the Holy Grail vibes lol), and it's definitely worlds better than the godawful piece of schlock from 2000 featuring a mesmerizingly embarrassing Jeremy Irons.

 

This might be Chris Pine's best role in years, and he has surprisingly strong chemistry with Michelle Rodriguez. More movies featuring these two playing off each other please! Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis are also solid, Rege-Jean Page makes a strong case for him becoming the next big action star in his handful of scenes, and Hugh Grant embraces the cartoony nature of the project without going into the realm of scenery-chewing. And oh man, I am so happy I managed to avoid getting spoiled beforehand that they got BCoop to cameo in this as a freakin' hobbit. 

 

It's no classic but it is a fun and visually impressive time at the movies that proves it is possible to make an enjoyable spectacle in 2023 without superheroes, and I would be here for any sequels if the studio decides to pursue a franchise with this.

 

B+

[Daxtreme]

As a D&D nerd who's been playing since 1998, this movie is simply awesome.

 

Good times can be had for non-fans too since it's easily digestible, but the attention to details concerning the lore, the spells, the items, the way things work, is worthy of praise. Lots of nods, lots of references, and lots of fun.

 

2 highlights for me:

• The Wild Shape 'one-take' chase sequence, holy moly that was good and so creative.
• The graveyard sequence, just pure hilarity.

The CGI was a bit wonky at times, but I would say that overall it was definitely at an acceptable level. Nowhere near recent Marvel-levels of bad. And great practical effects.

 

The story is convoluted a bit and moves too fast. At some point they go to retrieve something important and it's a bit off. Like that should have been cut I think. Instead just find another way for the group to get this thing. They travel through enormous distances a bit too easily in my opinion. But it's really a rollicking story and never loses its purpose so I guess it works.

 

Aside from one sequence in a dark armory that was cut awkwardly, the action is largely easy to follow and quite inventive. The druid and her Wild Shape shenanigans are the highlights of the action, although every cast member gets their moment to shine at some point. The fights are slightly over-edited as always but it's mostly competent here, and the intertwining of magic throughout spices things up quite a bit. Magic is used to great effect in this movie, loved that about it. Not quite as amazing as it could be but the action is definitely one of the reasons why this movie is great.

 

Chris Pine is an excellent leading man as everybody already knows. However, two characters stole the show on and off: the druid in the action scenes, and Hugh Grant whenever he was on.

 

It's a bit trashy but in a good way.

 

Also, we need to talk about that Bird Ambassador and why he's not more important. Replace all side characters with a birdman for the sequel please, thank you very much!

 

A-

[Jonwo]

I've never played D&D but I totally bought into the concept and it's nice to see a fantasy film or TV show which is not so po faced and embraces the ridiculous nature. 

 

Hugh Grant is really embracing playing OTT characters, it's interesting that he has taken such a different path in recent years. Colin Firth in comparison is not as good at being OTT in films.

[Webslinger]

With its source material’s continued ascendance from a shorthand punchline for nerdiness to a game with wide-ranging mainstream appeal, it’s only fitting that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves lands as such an enjoyable crowd-pleaser. Under the direction of Game Night helmers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, this Dungeons & Dragons navigates its entire two-and-a-quarter-hour run time breezily. The action sequences continue the promise Daley and Goldstein demonstrated in their previous film with a consistently dynamic feel, clear and inventive visual tricks, and moments that earn any laughs or cheers they might get from a theatrical audience. The comedy also hits, with stellar one-liners and recurring bits alike. Where the film ultimately finds its biggest success, however, is in its characters. Daley and Goldstein latch onto themes of found family essentially from the jump, and the bonds between the character enhance the effectiveness of both the comedy and the action, and they also help the film’s stabs at pathos feel genuine and earned. As the leader of the ragtag team at the center of the action, Chris Pine does inspired, charismatic work that utilizes his cocksure swagger and comedic timing to high effect. Fellow team members Michelle Rodriguez, Sophia Lillis, and Justice Smith also each get moments to shine, and the quartet has such ready-made chemistry with one another that their bond and commitment to one another feels fully believable. There’s also a really fun supporting turn from Regé Jean-Page, who owns his role so assuredly that he feels like a star in the making. Even in relatively limited action as a smarmy figurehead for the villain, Hugh Grant is clearly having a good time hamming it up. While it is not exactly groundbreaking nor a reinvention of any traditional genre (though I suppose it’s the best film based on a tabletop roleplaying game by leaps and bounds), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a wildly entertaining film whose confidence in its material and earnestness in its delivery makes it a whole lot of fun.

 

B+

[LegionWrex]

Pretty much a banger across the board. It's nothing we haven't seen before story wise but tropes are indeed tools and I feel like this used it's tools exceptionally well. Tons of great practical sets, animatronics, puppetry, costumes, etc., really well shot too with solid VFX work when needed. Hilarious too, love to see a big budget film actually commit to being a comedy as opposed to this weird self winking middle ground that a lot of them try to be. Chris Pine is the standout. I love Jarnathan, he is now my favourite creature.

 

Shame this didn't do well, but I'm hoping that it at least finds an audience in the future on streaming and home media cause I feel like this is a cult classic in the making.

[Goffe]

I just wanted to see something light & fun yesterday and went with this since it had good reviews.

It’s a theme park movie, solely designed to boost the brand.
 

No style whatsoever, which is the minimum I expect from these movies.

 

They just go from one location to another location to another one without any rhyme, explaining weird ass names they throw up constantly, and quipping  it to death. All of that while looking very cheap. 

 

Almost went to theaters to see this one. Dodged a bullet.

[avensis]

this movie is a nice surprise. I wasn't expecting much but I was still captivated by the film.

 

 

_{Mini Militia App Lock}

Edited July 5, 2023 by avensis

[JustWatching]

Finally had a chance to sit down and watch this last weekend, and really enjoyed it. I’ve been playing D&D since I was a kid in the late Seventies, though it’s been a decade at least since I had a steady group and it was fun to catch all the references. The Time Stop spell, yeah, that’s how it works. TPK. The grasping hand spells, the wonky speak with dead spell, yup, check, check, check. Even the (barely) blur spell reference lol. And we got displacer beasts and intellect devourers. Intellect devourers for Gygax’s sake! And it’s set in the Forgotten Realms so of course Pine is a Harper and there’s an Elminster name drop…I can go on but you surely get the idea. As far as a D&D movie goes it was a massive improvement on the previous attempt and IMHO probably about the best you could ask for out of D&D flick.

 

The fundamental problem, at least for me, YMMV, is just inherent to the concept: D&D itself is a huge pastiche of fantasy stories, novels, tropes, characters and races. Everything in the genre that’s been popular in the last hundred years has been ported in, statted out and folded/spindled/mutilated to fit. And while I like the game and I like the movie, at the end of the day I would really rather see the stuff that it’s based on. Give me a Three Hearts and Three Lions film, or an Elric miniseries, or just one decent Lovecraft movie. Anyhow, that’s my $0.02.

[dudalb]

On 6/18/2023 at 10:56 AM, Goffe said:

I just wanted to see something light & fun yesterday and went with this since it had good reviews.

It’s a theme park movie, solely designed to boost the brand.
 

No style whatsoever, which is the minimum I expect from these movies.

 

They just go from one location to another location to another one without any rhyme, explaining weird ass names they throw up constantly, and quipping  it to death. All of that while looking very cheap. 

 

Almost went to theaters to see this one. Dodged a bullet.

I could not disagree more. I had a lot of fun at this movie when I saw it in the theaters.

I think you don't get the film was meant to be a out and out comedy with some action elements. You were expecting something more serious.

 

The cast was good. Sophia Lillis was my favortie as the Tiefling.

I also love the Mimic...I hated those things when I played D n D.