Movie Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’

Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant star in the new movie.

Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

Releasing in theaters on March 31st, ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ blends the knowing humor that writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein brought to ‘Game Night’ with an adventure worthy of the name.

They’re helped by a charming cast that have solid chemistry, a witty script that channels everything from ‘Lord of the Rings’ to ‘Monty Python’ and an enchanting visual style that is bursting with impressive effects work.

If you’re a longtime player of the game, chances are you’ll have a good time spotting the various references and easter eggs sprinkled within the film, but if you don’t know your Paladin from your Cleric, you don’t need to swot up to understand the story.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

"No experience necessary."

PG-132 hr 14 minMar 31st, 2023

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What happens in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’?

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ takes as its basis the tabletop gaming system invented in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and currently overseen by the company known as Wizards of the Coast. It’s the sort of elemental fantasy world that has been copycatted many, many times. And yet, it still feels original here.

We’re introduced to Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a charming bard-turned-thief and his best friend, barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), who are cooling their heels in prison after being caught on a job trying to steal magical artefacts.

Betrayed by Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) and dark magic acolyte Sofina (Daisy Head), the pair must make good their escape and recruit a band of unlikely adventurers (including Justice Smith’s lackluster wizard Simon Aumar and Sophia Lillis’ shape-changing druid Doric to undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.

The stakes are high: the artifact that Edgin and his original associates retrieved has been used by Sofina and her group of evil red wizards to unleash an army of the undead and general chaos upon the fantasy world. Our heroes must make things right, assuming they can stop squabbling along the way…

(L to R) Hugh Grant plays Forge in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ is powered by fun performances

Making full use of the entertaining script written by writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the cast make this latest stab at ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ work far beyond the ill-fated 2000 movie.

Pine, who has proven he can handle a blend of comedy, heart and action with movies such as the ‘Star Trek’ franchise, here makes for a typically appealing leading man while sending himself up at times. His Edgin is such a charming rogue, just this side of annoying but never smug.

Key to his character’s appeal is the fact that he’s not your basic action protagonist –– he’s heroic and can handle himself, but he’d much rather let Holga deal with any fighting. Rodriguez, usually found within the ‘Fast & Furious’ ensemble, gets more of a chance to have fun here, similarly undercutting the expectations of her character and proving to have a great buddy comedy connection with Pine. One of the smartest moves was to eschew a basic romantic storyline for these two, making the story feel like it isn’t the 500th variation of a well-used tale.

Her character is also the focus of a very enjoyable cameo from a big movie star that has yet to be widely reported, so we won’t spoil it here.

Grant mostly channels his smooth-talking Phoenix Buchanan from ‘Paddington 2’ to play Forge, but while he’s a low-level antagonist who only has a few key scenes, he steals most of them.

Smith and Lillis make for a great duo: he the nervy wizard struggling with self-esteem and his magical abilities, she the cagey druid who can become almost anything she wishes to be but would rather not hang out with humans. And while Pine and Rodriguez enjoy the lion’s share of the material, Grant, Smith and Lillis all have enough moments to keep their characters memorable.

Plus, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Regé-Jean Page’s Xenk Yendar, who the crew seeks out for help. A ramrod straight hero in the classic mold, he’s a blend of Drax from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and Christopher Reeve's Superman. He doesn’t appear in a lot of the movie, but he certainly makes an impact.

The movie as a whole has been carefully calibrated to have as wide an appeal as possible, putting a truly entertaining spin on heroes, villains and even exposition –– the image of heroes getting information out of a series of resurrected corpses is one that will stick (and still make you laugh) for days afterwards.

Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga, Justice Smith plays Simon and Chris Pine plays Edgin in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

(L to R) Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga, Justice Smith plays Simon and Chris Pine plays Edgin in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ might not be for everyone

There are still elements of the movie that could turn people off: if you’re not a fan of the “Marvelization” of blockbusters putting jokes into adventure or action, this movie might not be the best entry point.

The jokes tend to be more on the chuckle level than giant belly laughs (though there are certainly a few of those here, including a moment featuring both the “dungeon” and “dragon” part of the title). And, yes, it is another movie where a group of quippy heroes have to go on a quest to find a magic thing to fix a situation wrought by a magical baddie. But it does some interesting things with that very basic concept.

At more than two hours, there are small moments that drag and odd sections that don’t support the running time expended on it, but those are few and far between. And if you came to the movie expecting to see plenty of Page’s character, he’s in a couple of scenes and then vanishes for most of the movie until the end. That’s not necessarily a problem, but he works so well with the rest of the ensemble and is so straightforwardly heroic that you might actually miss him when he leaves (in a straight line, jumping over a rock… it’s a thing).

Fantasy is a tricky genre to infuse with humor, but ‘Honor Among Thieves’ pulls it off with aplomb. In a world where even the shoddy 2000 movie can generate sequels, this one deserves to roll a saving throw and spawn a franchise, as, handled correctly, these are characters you’ll want to spend more time with.

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.

Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Rege-Jean Page plays Xenk, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.

(L to R) Justice Smith plays Simon, Chris Pine plays Edgin, Rege-Jean Page plays Xenk, Sophia Lillis plays Doric and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga in 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' from Paramount Pictures and eOne.