A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a long lost relic, but their charming adventure goes dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant
Release Date: March 31, 2023
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rated PG-13 for fantasy action/violence and some language
Runtime: 2h 14m
Review:
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a fun, if inconsistent, adventure comedy that works mostly because of the energetic charisma of its ensemble cast. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein do a solid job of setting up the world and its light goofy tone early on. Chris Pine is a perfect shepherd for this fantasy romp by using his natural onscreen charisma to great effect. Pine makes the whole thing far more accessible than it should be since the script throws a bevy names and locations which longtime fans of the game will probably appreciate but will fly over the general public's head. The action set pieces are large impressive mostly CGI creations with a graveyard and arena sequence being the best of the bunch. Thankfully, the story never takes itself overly serious even as we traverse the Lord of the Rings style world as the group of misfits assembles. This allows the rest of the ensemble their moments to shine typically through a series of extended flashback which flesh out their backstories. Michelle Rodriguez is perfectly cast as the barbarian and Pine's platonic partner. Justice Smith is appropriately award and unsure as the less than stellar sorcerer whose hopelessly in love with Sophia Lillis shapeshifting druid. Lillis is a fun counterpoint to Smith with her natural poise and self confidence. Regé-Jean Page and Hugh Grant both make the most of their screen time but you get the sense that the film could have made better use of the performers and characters. It’s a strange sort of film that's far better than it deserves to be mainly because of the cast is able to rise about the film's script with is filled plenty of clunky dialogue. The surprising thing about Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is that amongst all the goofiness it's got a good amount of heart at the center of the story.
B-
