Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
(Left to right) Justice Smith as Aumar, Chris Pine as Edgin, Sophia Lillis as Doric, and Michelle Rodriguez as Holga in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
People are more nostalgic than they’ve ever been, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves may be the product of said nostalgia. Obviously, it goes without saying that the wildly popular role-playing game has never really gone out of fashion for geeks, but things that were once considered nerdy are now being reclaimed as mainstream… cool even. For many though, this near 50-year-old game was (and still is) a pinnacle of escapism, so no wonder we’re now looking back upon it with potential in the movie making game (best we forget the Dungeons & Dragons trilogy from 2000-2012, an out-and-out critical stinker). It’s strange to say that whilst we’re in the height of nostalgia territory, a land of sequels, remakes, and franchises, Honour Among Thieves is about looking forward. This is a true surprise, an earnest breath of fresh air, and one of the most delightfully entertaining fantasy films I’ve laid eyes on.
Thief Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) plans to save his estranged daughter (Kira, played by Chloe Coleman) from the dashing but nefarious conman Forge (Hugh Grant). In true DnD fashion, Darvis and his long-time confidante Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), a sorcerer, and a druid (Justice Smith as Simon Aumar and Sophia Lillis as Doric respectively), band together to execute a near impossible break-in mission.
Honour Among Thieves is a strikingly beautiful and delightfully wicked visual composition. Every environment exudes this ancient, fantastically constructed texture in both the computer generated and practical effects department (shout out to my boy Jonathan), but also in production design and overall cinematography. Like directorial duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s last feature Game Night, the camera weaves through the film in a tantalising fashion. Along with DoP Barry Peterson, we’re projected through the atmosphere on a photographic rollercoaster ride, twisting through underworlds, mazes, and action set-pieces.
Speaking of action, it’s brilliant, and slightly brutal too. Everyone should know that a good family adventure romp should have a bit of gruesomeness in it. You know, for the kiddos. There are many fairly scary sequences that may have younger viewers a bit shaken, but not too badly. Between the thousandth time that Holga breaks some poor knight’s shin bones, a handful of talking corpses, and flesh-eating gelatinous cubes, this is an ‘all-ages’ affair with an exhilarating edge.
This takes the template of a charming but innocuous Marvel or DC patented blockbuster and lifts it to astonishing new heights. Borrowing the best of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Suicide Squad, and Guardians of the Galaxy together for a ferocious feast ladened with quick witted humour, not forgetting sincerity along the way. The thing that notably irks me, and others, about modern big-budget cinema is oftentimes the inclusion of irony without any sense of empathy or gentility behind it. James Gunn may have changed the game in that respect, but I believe that Honour Among Thieves has now eclipsed a smattering of blockbusters we’ve seen in the last ten years or so. A tremendous achievement.
Personally, this is now the bar. I couldn’t of asked for more out of this in terms of genre thrills, comedy, action, and adventure. More so, it made me want to play Dungeons & Dragons and create an adventure of my own, with all the rewarding heights I experienced in the cinema. I implore you to go and experience this on the big screen and let Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves take you in its warm embrace.
