REVIEW: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ comes to life


Dungeons and dragons review 5/5

For lovers of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Lord of the Rings” franchises, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” releasing March 31, comes pretty close. The epic adventure and heist comedy film is first and foremost based on the famous Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game. However, both gamers and non-gamers alike will enjoy the spectacle that is created through the fantastical settings and the characters’ undeniable synergy.

The film is unbelievably humorous, and it does so with a perfect balance of intelligence and all-out wackiness. Structure-wise, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” never loses momentum. The careful plotting leaves audiences anticipating who or what the characters will next encounter in their quest, combined with travel to vivid settings that stay true to its original setting of the game world. 

Chris Pine stars as protagonist Edgin Darvis, a former Harper who strayed from his job of protecting the realm to become a thief with Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez). After being thrown in prison, Edgin and Holga successfully escape. This is only to find that one of their former partners, Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), got them imprisoned in the first place. 

Forge is collaborating with the evil Red Wizard Sofina (Daisy Head) and now rules the land as the Lord of Neverwinter. Not only that, but Forge refuses to let Edgin’s young daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), go after Edgin previously entrusted her to Forge’s care. 

Struck by the realization that Forge is the greedy villain of the story, Edgin and Holga decide to assemble a team that can take him down. They recruit another previous partner, the sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith). Simon leads them to Doric, a shapeshifting druid (Sophia Lillis), who also joins the team to find justice for her people. As they embark on an adventure to find what is necessary to defeat Forge, the team finds themselves embroiled in Sofina’s much darker plan to take over Neverwinter and its people. 

It’s clear throughout the journey that each member of the gang possesses the skillful ability to bounce off one another’s energy. Perhaps that comes naturally with the well-written dialogue, particularly the banter that reflects each character’s personality, but the performances are still commendable. There are a substantial number of laugh-out-loud moments, and the best part is that there’s something for everyone: physical comedy, comparatively subtler witty humor and flat-out weird images — one of them being a formidably chunky dragon. 

Later on in the film, our heroes are thrown into the High Sun Games, a maze in which they must avoid monsters and other potential threats. It’s exciting, fast-paced and the most visually magnetic way to see what each member of the crew brings to the table, literally. 

If being weird means thinking outside the box in a way that wows people, then “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” shows that being weird is a positive trait. It embraces its weirdness. More than that, it actively invests in being different and unexpected in the most appealing sense possible. 

Creating a crew for an epic adventure often entails archetypes of characters to round out the members. The same can be said for any role-playing game like D&D. After all, there has to be something for everyone, a character that each person can relate to. At their worst, these archetypes can end up falling flat. 

For the most part, the film manages to avoid such issues by exaggerating the archetypes to the point where they’re deliberate. At one point, Doric asks Edgin what exactly he brings to the team. In that question lies the notion that everyone in the team is fulfilling some type/function of some sort. Holga is the strong warrior, Simon is the magician and Doric is the spying shapeshifter. Edgin, on the other hand, suffers from the fate of being the heroic but otherwise lacking main character. He can only respond with the fact that he makes plans. 

Still, it’s obvious that the acknowledgement of those tropes was difficult to maneuver. In the filmmakers’ struggle to condense the many traits they wanted into individual characters, oftentimes, the resulting characters become too simplistic. Because they are all intended to be archetypes of some sort, it feels like the filmmakers’ attempt to shovel in backstory, particularly for Edgin, is meant to compensate for this absence without much else to convey these characters’ identities. 

Watching the film feels like going on a theme park ride. No surprise: The story and scenes are that exhilarating. Sometimes, it does feel like audiences are getting mechanically shuffled from one plot point to another, but the ride never slows. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is a roller coaster, with steep drops where they need to happen. 

What makes an epic adventure film great isn’t so much its scope, but the stakes of the mission and the heart of the team who are attempting to achieve it. There is so much heart in the film, and one gets the sense that it was lovingly crafted by people who love the core of the quest and are adventurers at heart. With this adaptation, the game has leapt off the table and into the world where it belongs.