May Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) (Patreon)

I love rolling dice. I love watching movies. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) may have rolled high with advantage, but missed that coveted natural 20.

In a post-Lego Movie world, movies based on IP are nothing infrequent. Where many fall short is not adherence to their subject matter, but storytelling. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) does an excellent job at capturing what playing a D&D session feels like, but fails at crafting a new and impactful story. Much like listening in to a friend describing their recent TTRPG session, the jokes land, the plot beats are hit, but there is a layer of detachment that prevents true engagement and care for the characters, their arcs, and the story at large.

I don't want to spend the whole review bashing this film. There was, after all, a whole lot here to like. The performances ranged from fine to fun, the story is basic but cleanly executed, and I appreciated the few notable moments of practical effects. Standouts included Regé-Jean Page's Paladin Xenk, a breath of fresh air mid-film, Michelle Rodriquez, keeping Holga Kilgore from being as one-note as her last name, and the Tabaxi family apparently at risk of becoming fish-food. 

Undeniably this is a Dungeons & Dragons movie, there were mentions of Mordenkainen and owlbears (or specifically, one owlbear), but the inclusion of the IP felt like an afterthought. Remove the terminology and the visual language left a lot to be desired. None of the fantasy races had a unique design aesthetic, the spells and magic items were similarly generic, and the character classes little more than labels on the script. As a frequent bard player, I would never have guessed Chris Pine was supposed to be one, were it not for the lute-turned-club he insisted on carrying around. 

D&D is a tough IP to adapt, it's designed to be customized by a table of players, but when creating a movie designed to push that IP, you too have to push a certain vision in order to be memorable. A strength of a game system is not always a strength on screen. While it may have been less true to the spirit of the game (and perhaps less broadly marketable) making bolder design choices could have helped this movie stand out, and masked some of the more basic story beats. 

As much as I, someone who watches statistically way too many movies and rolls way too many dice, may have found some flaws in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), it isn't a bad film. Like rolling a 15, this movie isn't succeeding with flying colors, but you're not going to fail the check either. I had an okay time watching it, and I wouldn't be averse to watching it again. If you're starved for simple, cleanly-made fantasy in a time where such stories are few and far between on screen, this film will satisfy that craving. Just don't expect a hero's feast.

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