You’ve got to love when something tells you what you’re going to get right on the packaging. No bait and switch, just an upfront setting of expectations. For example, I didn’t realize until second viewing that Blue Jay was the name of the coffee shop. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I watched the movie waiting for a bird to show up, but still. With Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, you know you’re going to be in for at least one dungeon, at least one dragon, and some thieves with varying degrees of honor.
We open on bard Edgin (Chris Pine, the second best Chris behind Evans) and barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez, who doesn’t have a party, she’s got family) in prison, waiting for their pardon hearing. After brief fight where a very large man gets what’s coming to him via some potato-based violence, we see Edgin and Holga go to the hearing. This is a very good narrative device, because it allows for an exposition dump that doesn’t feel like someone’s talking at you the whole time for no reason. We’re treated to Edgin telling the story of how he and Holga ended up there via flashbacks and voiceover; Edgin was once a Harper, a spy network that is sworn to do good and take no payment in return. Unfortunately, the life of a Harper means that they make a lot of enemies and those enemies found him. One day, he returns home to find his wife slain and his infant daughter Kira hidden, the sole survivor of the attack. At that point, he and Holga turn to a life of crime, eventually teaming up with a sorcerer, Simon (Justice Smith, always great), a rogue called Forge (Hugh Grant, whose talents are on full display), and a very powerful wizard named Sofina. However, on a heist, stealing from the Harpers to get the Tablet of Reawakening to resurrect his wife, Edgin and Holga get caught in a spell, and Edgin entrusts Kira’s wellbeing to Forge before he’s captured. He ends his speech to the board with a genuine expression of regret for his actions and a desire to make up for lost time with his daughter—oh, and also a daring escape.
From there, they find Forge and try to reconnect with Kira, and, well, let’s just say things don’t go quite as planned and they have to get the band back together along with newcomer Doric, a tiefling druid played by Sophia Lillis (a very talented actress in her own right), in order to plan an even more daring infiltration of Forge’s new fiefdom, Neverwinter, during the High Sun Games, a brutal game of survival that was ended under the old Lord of Neverwinter for making the Roman gladiatorial fights look like laser tag in comparison. This takes them on a series of quests to prepare, including running into Xenk, a Thayan paladin played by Regé-Jean Page, who helps them get a magical helmet, called the Helmet of Disjunction, for Simon to use in the heist. Don’t worry if you don’t know what a Thayan is, I didn’t either before I watched the movie and it really doesn’t matter. Xenk is a deeply hilarious character, unintended by him of course; so unbelievably good to the core and very literal in the way he speaks, he’s the kind of person that makes you feel worse about being a regular human being with flaws, because he’s basically perfect. But not in an obnoxious way, it’s actually very endearing. When we first see him, he pulls a baby cat person out of a giant fish’s mouth without harming either of them and then he just walks away, unfazed by his gentle act of heroism. How can you not feel inadequate after witnessing that? I’d save baby cat people all the time if I could. However, Edgin is very distrustful of him because he’s from Thay, which is a city that has a deep lore behind that I still don’t fully understand.
But that’s one of the biggest strengths of Dungeons and Dragons; you don’t need to know a single thing about Dungeons and Dragons the tabletop game to enjoy the movie. It doesn’t hung up on lore, it doesn’t get hung up on mechanics, and when they do come about, it feels incredibly natural to the storytelling—nothing ever feels tacked on or needlessly complicated, the film is very aware that people watching it won’t necessarily be steeped in the game’s history. I mean, I’ve played a campaign or two, never to the end, and I have a few of the LEGO Dungeons and Dragons collectible minifigures, mainly because I love LEGO and many of them are adorable, but I’m far from an expert. And yet, that never got in the way of my enjoyment of the movie. If you know your way around Dungeons and Dragons more than someone who has just listened to The Adventure Zone a few times, you may get more out of the movie and enjoy the Easter eggs and references on a deeper level than I did, but even if you’ve never rolled a D20 in your life, it won’t matter. Every bit of this is a wholly enjoyable film for just about anyone—and I do mean anyone, it’s a very family friendly movie, especially for older kids (some of the scenes might be frightening for younger children).
It’s easy to look at a fantastical ensemble action-comedy and draw comparisons with Guardians of the Galaxy, and I definitely see some similarities. In fact, just a few days prior to rewatching Dungeons, I rewatched Guardians in preparation (and not just because I’m so obsessed with Marvel Rivals that I am thinking about the world in a Marvel lens). But there are a few key differences and some major improvements. I don’t consider it criticism to say this feels like an early MCU movie in the best way, because it’s important to acknowledge how art builds on art. Much like how Astro Bot owes a lot to Super Mario Odyssey and The Town owes a lot to Heat while improving on its predecessors, Dungeons makes some moves here that surpass the Guardians formula, which Marvel has been trying desperately to recreate with varying degrees of success (and if the Super Bowl’s Thunderbolts ad is any indication, they’re still trying and the prospects don’t look so great). By making the characters mostly all familiar with each other prior to the story makes for a different style of narrative. Rather than a call to heroism like Guardians, it’s a redemption story, which can be very compelling in a different way than a call to heroism. And furthermore, Dungeons embraces the importance of failure in a way you rarely see in film. The characters are deeply self aware of their foibles and shortcomings; they know their weaknesses and they still strive to move forward, embracing each failure in their path as an invitation to try again. It’s a surprisingly touching and moving story for one that’s as funny—and, at times, silly—as this one is. Edgin especially is the driver of this, as his redemption arc is the most prominent in the film, but that’s not to say that the supporting cast don’t have their own rich story arcs to tell. At one point, Edgin gives an impassioned speech about how he’s not tired of failing because it’s only when you give up that you truly fail. Plan A turns into Plan B and into Plan C and beyond, but getting up off the mat is far more important the fact you were knocked down in the first place. And Edgin is there to remind everyone of that. “We must never stop failing,” he says, and that is such a powerful statement that is avoided by a lot of movies (and movies that do embrace failure, no matter how brilliant they are, like The Last Jedi, are often misunderstood and unfairly maligned).
Edgin’s self-awareness is what elevates this movie above other ensemble action-comedies. Edgin runs on bravado, he runs on improvisation, but he’s wildly aware of what’s wrong with him and he has a keen understanding of his failings. But he keeps fighting anyway. Perpetually undeterred by failure, he’s the kind of hero we don’t get to see often in film. Heroes aren’t expected to be perfect these days, thank goodness, but they are expected to be winners. Their relentless drive doesn’t have time to think about failure, it doesn’t have time to empathize with others, but it does allow them to bolster those around them. It’s not a criticism of that kind of hero, they can be very compelling, for sure, but it’s also nice to see something different from that. One of the MCU’s biggest traps that it keeps falling into is having overly arrogant protagonists who are humbled and then go back to being overly arrogant again once they’ve recovered—Tony Stark, Dr. Strange, etc; after a little while, they all begin to feel a bit too similar—but Edgin feels humble in comparison, which makes him incredibly relatable. He’s there for the others in his party because he knows what it’s like to need people to be there for him. When there is a moment where they’re called to heroism, it’s not bravado that compels him to answer, it’s empathy. It’s knowing that the world works best when people work together and care about the wellbeing of others, including strangers. And he does it without hesitation. And Simon, Holga, Doric, and even Xenk (who feels more like a dungeonmaster insert character than an actual party member, to be fair) all have their issues to overcome too—there isn’t a bad character in this movie and that really underscores how strong of a film this is.
Dungeons shouldn’t be a hidden gem—it should have been a massive blockbuster with lasting influence on the genre and a spate of sequels. But it had the unfortunate fate of coming out at a time when people were still in a pandemic hangover (in some ways, it seems like many people still are; I only went to the movie theater for the first time since the pandemic in December of last year), so the ticket sales were lackluster and I feel like a lot of people missed out on this wonderful film. Every aspect of this film deserves praise, from the storytelling to the visual effects, to the acting performances (I haven’t talked about him much because you really need to experience it for yourself, but Hugh Grant as Forge is one of the most fun performances in a film I’ve seen; he is really embracing these kinds of roles and continually knocking it out of the park), to pacing and personality in the film. I know I often bemoan the bloated length of movies these days and praise movies that respect your time, and at 2 hours 14 minutes, it’s not a short movie, but it definitely respects your time. Not a frame is wasted. The comedy is on point, with fantastic comedic timing from the entire cast, the action is fast-paced and fun, and the characters are truly something special. This is the kind of film you can watch over and over again with anyone in the room and it was always be enjoyable. I’ve seen it maybe five or six times already and I’m always noticing new details about it and finding new reasons to love it. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is available for streaming on Paramount+ and Prime Video (for the next two weeks), in addition to being available to rent digitally and I highly suggest you set aside a couple hours and a bit to watch it. Because this is one campaign you won’t be able to get enough of.
