Directed by: Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley
Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio
Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis
Rating: [3.5/5]
As proven by many failures, not all attempts of adapting high fantasy to attract broad appeal works in trying to condense plenty of lore into something digestible for general audiences. When done well it can create the greatest films of all time and in other instances expensive failures. While skepticism hung in the air, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves thankfully leaned on the more positive side, in which it wholeheartedly dives into its stranger elements but never loses sight of the emotional core of its story.
Following the death of his wife, Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) seeks to provide for his daughter through the means of theft along with his friend Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), and a crew that work relatively well together. In their attempts to snag a magical tool that will resurrect his wife, Edgin and Holga get captured while the others escape. Now breaking out of jail, the pair must try to make things right as they learn not all in their crew had the best intentions.
Selling the concept of a Dungeon & Dragons film always felt like a curious one, especially with the history of this game within our American culture. Once demonized and only seen as a niche product now had a chance to play up a broader appeal in a way not really seen before, and the film certainly delivered in doing so. As someone who has never played the game, I cannot speak to what accuracy it has to the playable experience many adore, but I can definitively state I did not need to know anything to enjoy everything this film had to offer. It uses vocabulary that needs to be picked up on but the film does a good job of making it fairly easy to acclimate to and keeps the focus on the narrative, the general emotional core continually pulling us into the experience.
The success of this film lives and dies with the performance put on by Chris Pine as our protagonist, Edgin. Pine has always exhibited the qualities that make him the best Chris in Hollywood with his strong range, and the way he goes all in with what his characters require of him makes everything about this project work. Pine’s incredibly hilarious in this role, while also bringing the natural charisma he holds to lead this film. He serves as the equilibrium that allows everything else to transpire around him to get as wacky as the film wanted, while also keeping us anchored into his honorable tale of trying to do right by his daughter. Edgin has his imperfections as a character, but he remains someone we never sever our connection to as audience members, which further builds out this film’s lore.
Going through the various stages brings an introduction to other types of characters outside of Edgin, who distinctly just looks like a human with no real supernatural ability. Bringing on the likes of Holga, a barbarian, Simon (Justice Smith), a half-elf sorcerer, Doric (Sophia Lillis), a tiefling druid, and Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), a con artist displays just how fantasy this film will get with its characters. In addition to what they take on, these characters each go through their own mini-arcs in addition to Edgin and his daughter. They become this tidy group that allows the weirder elements to make sense as they experience the strange trials and tribulations laid out before them. Of the rest of the cast, Hugh Grant certainly does his thing as we can all expect but the biggest surprise came from Michelle Rodriguez in her role as Holga. Leading quite the intriguing career with her better performances coming in her youth like Girlfight, she has mostly been content starring as Letty in The Fast and the Furious as of late, she matches her general tough demeanor with something a bit gentler here. She brings the brute strength required of the role but manages to allow this emotional appeal for this character that quite frankly surprised me in ways that made the film all the better.
Very much a fantasy adventure film, but one that has the necessary juice to bring in anyone with no knowledge of this world, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves serves as a strong example of what good ol’ fashioned high fantasy can look like to attract broader appeal. Unsurprisingly, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley continue to display themselves as exciting directors to watch as they find inventive and fun ways to present their stories that bring plenty of incredible comedy along with the serious side that makes for a wholly entertaining film and we get just that with this enjoyable feature.
Films with Josh 
