Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty busy. I played Dungeons & Dragons with some friends on Sunday, and then I went over to my sister's place to watch Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves as I hadn't had the opportunity to watch it yet. That's actually what I'm here to review today. So, let's strap ourselves in and go on a quest to talk about this movie. Let's get into it!

Released on March 31st, 2023, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves did pretty well critically, but ultimately it ended up bombing at the box office due to numerous factors, including poor marketing from Paramount, Entertainment One, and Hasbro, competition from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and D&D fans boycotting Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast because of controversies surrounding their handling of the Dungeons & Dragons brand. Personally, I think there's a little more to it than that.

Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Ameson in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons has always been this niche thing that many people attribute to nerds and people who live in their parents's basement. Which is completely unfair because D&D is a major strategy game that requires creativity, imagination, and the ability to think on your feet. But because of this weird stigma, and the fact that it's incredibly difficult to get into as a player, especially if you're trying to join a group who is in the middle of a campaign, and the Dungeon Master, or DM, is difficult, people really don't understand what the game truly is, and therefore, don't understand its potential as a storytelling medium.

It also doesn't help that an attempt to make a live action D&D movie was made in 2000, and it was a terrible movie from everything I've ever heard about it. I've never seen it, so I can't say one way or the other, but, I think that movie also sticks in the general audience's minds when they hear the words "Dungeons & Dragons live action movie". 

As a result, Honor Among Thieves ended up having alot of hurdles to overcome and, unfortunately, it ended up not overcoming most of those hurdles. At least the critics liked it. But, honestly, none of that stuff matters. Why? Because, this is a fantastic movie. I'm pretty new to D&D as I only started playing it about a month or so ago, but while I was watching the movie with my sister and my brother-in-law, I kept thinking to myself that everyone who worked on the movie managed to bring an entire D&D campaign to life on the screen.

The movie was written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, and Michael Gilio, and was directed by Goldstein and Daley. For those of you who might recognize the name John Francis Daley, he played Sam Weir on Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000), and Doctor Lance Sweets, a psychologist that Booth and Brennan work with on Bones (2005-2017). More recently, he starred in a movie called 5-25-77, which is a movie about the first Star Wars fan and how the movie changed his life as an amateur director, even before he saw the movie, as it was delayed being shown in his small town. These people who worked on the movie have to be D&D fans, because you do not get this movie as it is without fans making it. You just don't.

The cast is incredible. I've loved Chris Pine as an actor ever since I first saw him as Captain Kirk in Star Trek (2009), and while I haven't seen every movie he's been in since then, I've absolutely followed his career with interest and awe, because he did a fantastic job as Kirk in that first Star Trek reboot movie. He's great in this movie too as Edgin, a bard. I'm less familiar with the rest of the cast, with the exception of Hugh Grant, whom I've seen in a few movies, and have heard about for a good chunk of my life. I've seen each of the other cast members in at least one movie. I saw Michelle Rodriguez in The Fast & The Furious (2001), Justice Smith in Detective Pikachu (2019), and Sophia Lillis in It: Chapter One (2017) as teenage Beverly Marsh, and apparently she also played Nancy Drew in the 2019 movie adaptation of The Hidden Staircase, the second book in the original Nancy Drew book series. The only main cast members I'm entirely unfamiliar with are Chloe Coleman, who played Edgin's daughter, Kira, and Daisy Head, who plays the Red Wizard, Sofina. Oh and Bradley Cooper has a quick appearance as Holga's (Michelle Rodriguez) ex-husband, Marlamin, who is a halfling. 

I don't want to spoil anything, but the story is fun, interesting, and runs at a very nice pace. There are lots of easter eggs for fans and players of D&D, but you don't have to be a fan or a player to enjoy this movie. Which is something I was extremely pleased with, because, as I mentioned earlier, I'm relatively new to the world of Dungeons & Dragons and there were plenty of things that went right over my head until my sister or my brother-in-law pointed out to me at certain points. That didn't inhibit my enjoyment of the movie at all though.

 I recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of the Fantasy genre. I watched it on Netflix, but it is also available on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra-HD, if you prefer to watch it on a physical media format, instead of streaming it. I'm hoping to get it on Blu-ray so I can watch it again, because I really enjoyed it.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more reviews and other posts. Until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all again soon. Take care.