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Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves… although shouldn’t it be “Honour AMONGST Thieves”? Anyway, just be glad they spelled ‘Honour‘ properly, with the ‘U’.
Anyhoo, the film opens with both Edgin (Chris Pine – Don’t Worry Darling) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez – Avatar IMAX 3D) in prison for reasons not yet explained. However, they’ve been holed up for two years, and are about to see if they’re up for parole. At the hearing, Edgin insists they wait for Chancellor Jarnathan (Clayton Grover) for reasons that will become clear.
After explaining his backstory which shows how they got there, in which our lead hero details about his wife, Zia (Georgia Landers), being murdered, and him being left with just his young daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman) – complete with her magical amulet which can make her disappear, as well as detailing forming a team with sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith– Sharper), conman Forge (Hugh Grant – The Undoing) and wizard Sofina (Daisy Head – Underworld: Blood Wars 3D).
(And yes, in this D&D universe, it’s 2023, so relationships are frequently mixed-race ones)
However, once they’re outside again – which will require them being teamed up with druid Doric (Sophia Lillis – I Am Not Okay With This), the premise is such that Forge is the baddie of the piece, with Sofina as his accomplice.
I understand the characters in this are based upon the original game, which is something I’m not familiar with – bar a brief time as a kid when, for a couple of times, a friend and I sat down and he made up locations for me to go around, battle a demon here and there. I’m not sure why we didn’t do that more often, as it was pretty good fun, and I remember once asking him (as some sort of creature) how many hit points he had… which is not something a creature could answer.
Screen-wise, the only Dungeons and Dragons I’ve come across before is the 2000 movie, starring Jeremy Irons, which I recall not being particularly great. However, while the 2023 movie does run rather a bit too long at 2 hours 14 minutes, there’s a lot of humour in this from start to finish (as opposed to most similar films only bothering to do this in the first act), and despite not being familiar with the specifics of the content in the script in terms of character names, the locations they visit and any particular items like Kira’s amulet, I could still fully enjoy what was going on onscreen, and didn’t feel lost at any point – when something superhero-y happens, you just go with it.
For example, in terms of the content, Edgin is looking for a “Tablet of Awakening” – to bring Zia back from the dead. Naturally, it’s not something I’m familiar with, but it’s perfectly understandable to anyone, making this film completely accessible.
Plus, Simon used an item I can only describe as a Portal Gun. Maybe Portal nicked it from the world of D&D, I don’t know.
In terms of the humour, there’s a lot of wisecracks – largely from Chris Pine’s character, as well as more subtle humour which made me laugh out loud, such as when Forge is drinking a cup of tea that’s way too hot, asks for Sofina’s help with her magical powers, until to complete the task, she hovers her icy-cold finger above the tea…. then dips it right in! …causing Forge to cringe in the way only Hugh Grant can do when being Hugh Grant, before trying to be Britishly polite, despite the disgust about her finger entering the liquid he’s trying to drink, culminating in him refusing to drink the rest, with an embarrassed, “I’ll just… leave that for later(!)”
Elsewhere, when joined by paladin Xenk (Regé-Jean Page – Bridgerton), they have to cross a fire pit, but over a bridge which requires ridiculously strict instructions on where you can put your feet, and “Don’t trigger the mechanism…”
In the trailer, before much of the instructions are explained, Simon puts a foot wrong – literally – and states, “I may have… triggered the mechanism… so, sorry…”
In the film, the scene is a lot more drawn out than that, and he doesn’t say he “triggered the mechanism”, he just explains that he put his foot on the wrong-numbered stone, hence causing the bridge to collapse, thus the trailer doesn’t explain the exact cause, because nothing about where to step on had been detailed. The end result is the same, but it’s just not as snappy in the film. Minor annoyance.
On the 4DX experience, this is the second film I’ve seen in that format, following last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home More Fun Stuff Edition. Various effects include being jolted about when the characters are on horseback, snow falling down from the ceiling during the opening winter-based scene, the seats moving about a lot as Simon is flipping about in the air after he falls out of a window, feeling thumps in the back while someone’s being beaten up, and general tilting as the camera moves about.
Hence, the 4DX isn’t massively essential, and you can’t take it home with you, but it’s entertaining for the running time.
I wouldn’t do it often, and the only annoying part is that I can’t make notes paper for a review, since the pad and pen would get thrown all over the place.
Also, it says: 4DX is NOT for people with high blood pressure or heart conditions. Oops! 😀
There’s also a mid-credits scene which I’ll detail in the video below. Now, as for the audience… mostly, it was fine, but there were three lads around 14 or so which clearly weren’t bothered about the film. A couple of times, as either I or another audience member laughed a lot, they started doing obvious forced laughter in a mocking tone, another time once of them took a picture with their phone so there was a blinding flash in the room, but then at the 85-minute mark, they all upped and left, never to return. I guess Mummy gave them too much pocket money, so they wasted £15 of it each at the cinema, plus whatever their drinks and snacks cost.
I did not miss them.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray Steelbook, Blu-ray, Amazon Prime and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 134 minutes
Release date: March 31st 2023
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Format: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 7.5/10
Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Producers: Brian Goldner, Jeremy Latcham, Nick Meyer
Screenplay: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio
Music: Lorne Balfe
Cast:
Edgin: Chris Pine
Holga: Michelle Rodriguez
Xenk: Regé-Jean Page
Simon: Justice Smith
Doric: Sophia Lillis
Forge: Hugh Grant
Kira: Chloe Coleman
Sofina: Daisy Head
Zia: Georgia Landers
Guard: Kyle Hixon
Gorg: Spencer Wilding
Tobias: Will Irvine
Chancellor Anderton: Nicholas Blane
Chancellor Norixius / Dragonborn Vagrant: Bryan Larkin
Baroness Torbo: Sarah Amankwah
Elvin High Harper: Colin Carnegie
Young Kira: Sophia Nell Huntley
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.