Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Directors ~ John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein

Writers ~ Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio

2023, United States-Canada-United Kingdom-Iceland-Ireland-Australia

Stars ~ Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis

 

That this feels like ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: fantasy version’ only goes to show the James Gunn template is now the one everyone tries to follow: it’s easy to forget how fresh Gunn’s original ‘Guardians’ felt at the time. But actually ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ was a property long in development and the witty-banter ensemble dynamic is already embedded in the D&D gameplay, so it’s perhaps unfair to relegate its essence as bandwagon-jumping.

The narrative ~ script by Goldstein, Francis Daley and Michale Gilio ~ apes the more improvisational We Need A Plan! progression of the game. BrianTallerico sees this as a chief failing, but improvisation is the crux of the source material, and demands for more nuanced artistry surely shouldn’t get in the way of something so good-natured. Embraking on a quest and being dumped into chaos is a standard and familiar narrative ~ after all, the game drew upon and generated many archetypes and tropes ~ so much so that it won’t alienate non-D&D audiences, and there’s Easter Eggs here for the fans.

It's just plain enjoyable without the sense of neediness that most films of this trend have. Pine can do this in his sleep (solid, charming without being overbearing), Michelle Rodriguez offers some substance to her archetype of a Barbarian Amazon. With Regé-Jean Page as the saintly but humourless good guy, the film pokes fun at the po-facedness of many fantasy films. Playfulness is the watchword, not earnestness. Hugh Grant enjoys himself and surely has charming-slimy-selfish-articulate-plotting villainy down pat by now (that accent goes a long way). In fact, everyone appears to be having a good time and it is never left limping with seriousness. Oh sure, we get lessons on self-confidence, working together, accepting yourself and your mistakes, etc, but mostly these are fleeting character-colouring rather than doorstopper performative.

Fun is the agenda here, and it offers it with fat but formidable dragons, some crunchy fight scenes that follow the contemporary accent on choreography rather than brute-force, and (my favourite) questioning revived corpses. Initial word-of-mouth was that it was better than expected, as general anticipation was low, but it’s surely one whose reputation will grow. A film that is fun without being stupid.