Often new films that are released reflect the current landscape. In the post-9/11 years, we saw fantasy rule the box office, and in the early 2010s, political thrillers and darker films saw a comeback. The superhero escapism of the modern era is starting to see a slight decline as box office numbers are looking weaker and weaker with every release. Maybe Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is just the film we need right now. It’s a throwback /love letter to classic blockbuster filmmaking, that is above all else, fun.
Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who created the wonderful Game Night (if you haven’t seen that one it is well worth the watch for Rachel McAdams’ performance alone), know how to craft a crowd-pleaser. They blend together practical and digital effects that give the film a throwback feel while still appealing to modern sensibilities. You can tell that the duo had a lot of fun crafting the world with great production design and sets that help the world feel mostly lived in. And they brought together a cast that pops onscreen.
The story follows Edgin Davis (Chris Pine) and Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) as two friends who escape from a tundra-based prison to reunite Edgin with his daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman) but find out she has been tricked by the new Lord of the land, Forge (Hugh Grant.) It all leads to a bunch of quests and brings together a great cast of a sorcerer (Justice Smith), a druid (Sophia Lillis), and a paladin (Regé-Jean Page) as they go on a campaign to stop a great evil from being unleashed. The cast has great chemistry and their not-too-serious vibe about everything helps to keep everything light and fun. While Pine and Rodriguez are great the real scene stealers are Smith, Page, and Grant. Smith as the bumbling and insecure sorcerer, Simon is the real heart of the film, and his dry wit provides ample opportunity to poke fun and the sometimes ridiculous world.
Page is a delight as Xenk, the complete opposite of Simon. He’s oozing charisma but doesn’t possess a single funny bone in his body. He plays really well off of Chris Pine’s sarcastic lead and allows the middle chunk of the movie some much-needed energy as the film’s fetch quests were pushing into the realm of tedium. Then there is Hugh Grant. Who made the first part of his career off of his good looks and everyday leading man type, has comfortably shifted to his second act as a mustache-twirling villain. But it’s Grant’s enthusiasm that helps elevate his antagonists. He chews up every scene he is in and makes a meal out of it, and you can tell he is having fun with the role. All of the actors are, and it’s what really makes the film stand out. The sense of fun.
It brings back the days of when blockbusters were fun and weren’t so overstuffed and dour. (Not that they all are.) And D&D is a little overstuffed, running at 2 hours and 20 minutes, but it doesn’t drag. As mentioned earlier it gets a little too heavy with the fetch quests of our heroes having to go after an item to do something that will help them get another item, that will get them the item they really need. Now I know this part of the appeal of the Dungeons & Dragons game but this is a film and that doesn’t always translate well. But overall the story zips by and is complicated enough to keep the audience engaged but simple enough to not let the audience get lost in the lore.
While the world feels mostly real and lived in and the practical effects help a lot, the world does become a little confusing. Something like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter have worlds that feel alive and magical, and keep you guessing, there is something a little off about D&D. The characters react to things that should be commonplace or lack understanding of things that should be well-known in the world. It is a bit of a nitpick but a nitpick that can take you out of the movie a bit. But the directors know to make up for it with a swashbuckling sense of adventure.
The big set pieces are fun and exciting and provide some unique challenges for the characters to have to conquer, especially some of the pieces in the very entertaining third act that I won’t spoil here. But the whole film has a very polished feel to it and could have benefited from a little bit more wear and tear. The cinematography is clean, and perfunctory, keeping mostly in mid shots and avoiding too many close-ups or the use of handheld. It gives the production an arm’s length feel. It prevents the audience from being able to be fully emotionally invested.
The film spends a fair amount of the first act setting up the emotional stakes before getting to the main plot and that is appreciated, but Chris Pine’s character isn’t written well enough to really get you fully invested in his story to begin with. His story is compelling and his goal is clear but his actual character is pretty much boiled down to being Chris Pine. He does a great job with the role but it could have been played by any of the other Chrises and it would have been the same story.
That being said, the movie is still a lot of fun. It’s no Pirates of the Caribbean or Raiders of the Lost Ark as it lacks the compelling characters and personal touch of those films. But the cast is having a blast, the world is goofy but enjoyable and the set pieces are well gone. Dungeons and Dragons might not become a classic but it’s still a movie full of heart, optimism, and excitement. And that’s kind of what we need right now.
3.5/5