I never got into the Dungeon & Dragons role-playing game. I did watch the Saturday morning cartoon which seemed to star half the cast of Eight is Enough. But when the 2000 movie came out, I watched it one and a half times. Marlon Wayans’ role was akin to a fantasy version of Stepin Fetchet embarrassment. It was a great fall for Jeremy Irons and Thora Birch just phoned it it. And I’m sure he’s a really good guy but Justin Whalin was never going to be whatever Hollywood producers thought he was.
I’ve also never been too interested in fantasy. There’s always too many characters to keep track of and they’re always bouncing around from one area to the next to find something that’s never fully explained. There’s always a talisman or something that someone wants because it bring them great power. That being said, I’m a big fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and not so of The Hobbitt trilogy. Sometimes the trope can be wonderfully parodied, which was the case with The Princess Bride.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a marriage of LOTR and Princess Bride in a story about a band of ragamuffins each with their own quirks and idiosyncrasies who come together to steal the “Tablet of Reawakening.” They’re led by Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) who evokes the charm and flair of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks. Edgin is a bard and former member of the Harpers. Along with Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian who is banished from the Uthgardt Elk Tribe, have raised Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman), now 14, after the death of Edgin’s wife.
Unfortuntely, Edgin and Holga are imprisoned at the beginning and Kira has been under the care of Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant at his slimy best). Forge is a former ally of Edgin who has been lying to Chloe, trying to turn her against her father. Forge has also formed an alliance with Sofina (Daisey Heald), the Red Wizard of Thay, who is involved in necormancy. After Edgin and Holga escape from prison, they are joined with Doric (Sophia Lillis), a tiefling druid, Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), a half-elf wild magic sorcerer and Xenk Yendar (Rege-Jean Page), a paladin.
It’s a lot of characters, like I said. The movie directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who co-wrote the script with Michael Gilio, seem to be inspired by Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy in their tone of the movie. And nowadays, it seems the focus to make movies more light-hearted which might make some people groan. D&D is described as a fantasy heist comedy, which is a new one I’ve not heard before.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it and laugh at some of the scenes The movie takes place in the Forgotten Realms and there was a wonderful scene in which they dig up bodies as Simon using a talisman that will allow the corpse to be resurrected and asked five questions before they go back to death. I’d also bet you everything frim a diddly-eyed Joe to a damned if I know, the five questions is a reference to a joke in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where King Arthur keeps thinking they’re going to be asked five questions but is corrected that it’s three. I found myself even laughing when Xenk is introduced saving a cat-creature child from the jaws of a giant fish creature. Mainly, because it just seems like such an outrageous thing and an unforgettable way to introduce a character we’ve been hearing about earlier.
I commend Daley and Goldstein for using more practical effects. I feel that they were also trying to go for the look and feel of old fantasy movies from the 1980s like Krull, Labyrinth and Legend. At the same time, they are giving the fans of D&D what they should have. It’s not for everyone even though they reportedly advertised it for everyone. I felt the casting of Rodriguez was too typical. She’s played this type of character too often too much before. She doesn’t add much to the role the way the other actors do. And a cameo by Bradley Cooper as Holga’s halfing ex-husband stops the movie dead. Lillis on the other hand seems like she was made for her role as a tiefling.
Produced on a $150 million budget, Honor Among Thieves made about $220 million at the box office, which is still peanuts in today’s standards. Daley has said there’s really no intentions on making it a film franchise. Paramount Pictures, which distributed the movie, has announced plans to make a series out of it on Paramount-Plus. It should be noted this movie has no connection with ther 2000 D&D movie nor its direct-to-video sequels.
If you like a good fantasy action movie with a little cheeky humor, this movie might be for you. It’s a rarity for a movie that just wants to be entertaining. It’s a little longer than it should be, but after the bloated Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I feel audiences will enjoy this a whole lot better.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 