Movies
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” Delivers The Loot
So this is what the majority of people feel like after watching Guardians Of The Galaxy movies? I get it now.
“A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.”
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Writers: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio
Staring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justine Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman
Release Date: March 31, 2023
IMDB
So this is what the majority of people feel like after watching Guardians Of The Galaxy movies? I get it now.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) is the story of a band of misfit friends who must put their petty squabbles and conflicting personalities aside in order to save the day.
Edgin (Chris Pine) is a planner, and a rather talkative one. He is the de facto leader of the troop which also includes his warrior best friend Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), and a low level wizard called (Justice Smith). These are the core three of the story, but they are eventually joined by Doric (Sophia Lillis), a shape-shifting elven creature who shares the same motivations as her other bandits.
What is the mission of this cohort? For Edgin the overarching goal is to re-establish a relationship with his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) and resurrect his dead wife with an ancient relic known as the Tablet Of Reawakening.
Kira has been taken in by former friend Forge (Hugh Grant) while Edgin and Holga have been in prison. Edgin is a single father and the death of Kira’s mother strengthened their relationship while she was younger, but now it creates a small fissure of distrust that is widened by the lying mouth of Forge.
Forge used to be friendly with Edgin and company, but a robbery gone wrong put the two charismatic smooth-talkers on different paths. Forge now finds himself the leader of a kingdom, much to the surprise of everyone. The royalty lifestyle found Forge with large amounts of help from a woman called Sofina (Daisy Head), and Sofina is an unkind daughter of a bitch. She is a disciple of the Red Wizards, who are an evil group of magical beings that have apocalyptic world dominating dreams. Does Forge have any idea that Sofina is untrustworthy? No, absolutely not. He is an idiot.
The climatic wheels are set in motion when Forge announces that he is bringing back a previously outlawed gladiatorial event called the High Sun Games. Edgin thinks this is the perfect opportunity to whisk his daughter away from her tower in the castle. Doric sees this as an opportunity to take down Forge to protect her community. Forge is in it for the money, and Sofina finally has all the ingredients she needs for her dastardly evil appetite.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has the fantasy plot, but the story is second fiddle to the characters and the chemistry they share. Much like true D&D games, the comradery of the players and their creativity is essential to a good time.
The screenplay written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley and Michael Gilio understands the vibes of the game as well as its mechanics. Honor Among Thieves is a mini-story combined with another mini-story sequencing into another mini-story that all build up to an over-the-top finale that requires lessons and abilities learned along the way. The best testament to the success of this screenplay’s strengths is that the ending hits all the right notes despite there not being a super well developed final boss. It is the opposite of a James Bond movie where the bad guy needs to be excellent. You could have a paper mache pig be the final fight in Honor Among Thieves and it would still work.
This is going to sound cheesy, so please just accept it, but Honor Among Thieves has a ton of heart. The relationships in this movie are warm but fair, and the way the characters mold together to fill each other’s gaps is uncommon. Within the many banter-filled moments of the story, the comedy never feels like a “ME, MY TURN, YOUR TURN.” exchange. It isn’t like some team-up movies where each character is trying to one-up one another. The banter doesn’t often throw characters under the bus, rather the bickering ends with Edgin smiling and bringing it all back home.
The relationship between the friends is like those who are playing D&D in someone’s basement. You can disagree but you can tell everyone is on the same page. They all are united in the same mission and all squabbles of the past fall by the wayside when they are trying to advance on what they are doing now.
Dungeons & Dragons is having a moment, right? We now have different media showcasing the game in all different types of light. Stranger Things brought the concept to the forefront with its cultural explosion. Legends Of Vox Machina is a superb show on Amazon Prime, and now Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has reached both critical and mass appeal. We have seen attempts at breaching this fantasy realm with movies like World Of Warcraft (2016), but they did not breach the American culture zeitgeist.
Meaning this in the best way possible, I think Honor Among Thieves succeeds because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The movie doesn’t make its mission to ingratiate everyone into D&D. Honor Among Thieves was made with the mission of being entertaining on its own, regardless of if you know its a D&D style adventure or not.
As mentioned already, the majority of the entertainment value comes from the movie’s characters. Chris Pine is magnetic as Edgin, reminding viewers a tad of his portrayal of Kirk in Star Trek (2009) and its subsequent sequels. He is far more self deprecating in Honor Among Thieves, but the same “believe in us” confidence is there.
Michelle Rodriguez as Holga is great at the action sequences and works well as the quiet conscience opposite Edgin. Justin Smith as the character of Simon has some of the best laugh-out-loud moments, but he is slightly overshadowed by Regé-Jean Page. The Bridgerton star is playing to his trope as the character Xenk, a knightly sir who can do now wrong and who is very good with a sword. Xenk is only in Honor Among Thieves for maybe 30 minutes, but he delivers laughs with logical verbal barbs against Edgin. Remember when I said how Honor Among Thieves is like Guardians Of The Galaxy? Xenx is like Drax, just more socially aware and traditionally handsome.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves does the near impossible. The movie honors its inspiration without treating it like scripture and still manages to make diehard D&D fans excited while making money and ensuring traditional moviegoers are entertained. Credit should be showered upon directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein for shepherding this movie into a sphere of unique success. Nobody had grand expectations for Honor Among Thieves, but after over 200 million dollars grossed worldwide and great world of mouth success, one could say it is safe to say we will be seeing this troop for another adventure soon.
I for one, would not mind.
As of early August 2023, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is streaming on Paramount.
STANKO RATING: B+
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