Of course Carlos the Dwarf started it all. John Francis Daley, Sam Weir from Freaks & Geeks, was in one of the first pop culture acknowledgements of Dungeons & Dragons. A Community Episode here, a Joe Manganiello there, Stranger Things everywhere, and the world has dragged the famous interactive RPG game into the mainstream. Honor Among Thieves completes our circle, as Francis Daley is one of the writer directors on the movie, taking those fantasies in people’s heads during Jr. High, High School, and College, and putting those dreams and hangs on the big screen for everyone to enjoy.
We start in a frozen prison, housing Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) and his badass enforcer Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez). Both yearn to escape, so Edgin and Holga can save Edgin’s daugther Kira (Chloe Coleman) from whatever fate has befallen her. The pair’s search takes them through their shared past, including run ins with their former colleagues Simon the sorcerer (Justice Smith) and the Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), both of whom may or may not be excited for the reunion.
Affection oozes from each frame of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley wanted to make sure the game they loved as kids could be translated to the big screen. As such, the directors use proven successful formulas in tandem for max entertainment. D&D campaigns first and foremost take players on a fantastical journey across some world somewhere encountering incredible magical beings/creatures. Goldstein and Daley get all the money they can out of the 10,000 drones they deployed for Honor Among Thieves, giving us sweeping shots of majestic vistas of all types. We travel with Edgin, Holga and a host of others, with the camera in constant motion making the audience really feel that epic journey the movie wants to conjure for the viewers. Along the way, we meet not just Kira, Simon, and Forge, but other magical beings and creatures as well, including a shapeshifting druid name Doric (Sophia Lillis) and a malcontent hyperserious wizard named Sophina (Daisy Head) to add in some of that childhood magical excitement to open the possibilities of what we can see onscreen. The backbone of the story is a heist film through a fantasy lens: Edgin, Holga, and their friends must break into a castle to save Kira from evil forces. That means we get the putting the band together montages, always a delight. Daley and Goldstein use the Butch Cassidy/MCU character dynamics to keep the audience engaged, having each team member snipe back and forth at one another for the audience’s amusement during the downtimes, like Simon’s clear excitement to be working again with the over it Doric, or the team eviscerating Pine’s flimsily crafted plans. Throw in a legit surprise cameo, and some fun magic based action sequences with moving camera shots like in Game Night, and you might find yourself grinning a lot picturing yourself on this D&D campaign and which character you would be.
The other recipe for success? Cast British actors in fantasy epics. Similar to Paddington 2, Hugh Grant is having a ball playing the delightfully named Forge Fitzwilliam. Grant leans hard into a pompous, entitled British persona that works humorous wonders, as Forge’s blind narcissism makes him say these ridiculously cold things to the Thieves. And the lines seeming earnestness in their dark depravity only makes them funnier. But the movie really comes alive when Rege Jean Page’s Xenk Yendar saunters onscreen. Immediately, Page and Chris Pine form this Drax/Star Lord dynamic, where the completely honorable, self serious Xenk is met with grounded bewilderment from Pine as he becomes more convinced that Xenk must be faking this noble sincerity. As hard as Hugh Grant commits, Page commits even moreso, which makes the audience wait on the edge of their seat for Xenk to say something, because it’s immediately going to lead to a joke. If we get more D&D films, Page needs more screen time, because Honor Among Thieves is at its best when he’s involved in any way in the story.
I hope we get more D&D movie campaigns. This first one sets up a great formula, that can just be repeated with different characters on new adventures. Obviously leading up to the D&D/Stranger Things crossover, where Sean Astin plays twins, a Hobbit and a loving husband, to be our glue to defeat the Demogorgons and Ringwraiths of Mordor. I think I broke some 11 year old’s brain somewhere.