One of the big surprises of late 2023 was Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves making it onto so many “Best of…” lists for the year. Even more surprising, it actually deserves to be there (usual caveats apply).
It’s a big sword-and-sorcery quest movie, with all the stuff you’d expect – spells, elves, shapeshifters, a medieval setting, capes, subterranean realms, undead creatures and, yes, dungeons and dragons. “Wizards and shit”, as one critic once termed it (I suspect it might have been Nathan Rabin, who also gave us the Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a concept).
What you might not expect is the tone. It’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the medieval done as comedy. We’re not laughing at Dungeons & Dragons so much as watching familiar movie tropes being slightly mocked, not so much that it’ll offend the faithful, but enough to entice the non-believer to get on board.
People expect a bit of plot at this point, but really you already know that there will be an evil person, a quest for a thing, a band of brothers forged in adversity, and a showdown with a mythical creature before the main event – a battle royal. Plus mud, thick leather, a blacksmith’s forge in all likelihood, some chains, some cackling and roaring from various quarters.
It’s Chris Pine vaguely doing his amused Shatner thing as Edgin, the leader of the plucky gang of rejects trying to find the Helm of Disjunction, a mythical helmet that will enable him to secure the Tablet of Reawakening and revive his dead wife. Along for the ride, and with their own agendas, are stoutly fiece warrior Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), self-doubting sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and shapeshifting elf Doric (Sophia Lillis), with an assist for a good chunk of the way by Xenk, a sage played by Regé-Jean Page, the taciturn ying to Edgin’s quippy, lippy yang. Much comedy is extracted from the interplay of these two.
Meanwhile, wearing the black hats/cowls etc are Hugh Grant as Forge, the superficially charming but secretly dastardly former associate of Edgin who has somehow become ruler of the realm, his wizard sidekick Sofina (Daisy Head), and somewhere in the weeds Szass, a Sauron-style archwizard rarely seen.
The cast hit all the right notes, with the exception of Hugh Grant, who’s too broadly and relentlessly comedic – as if he’s still in Paddington 2. The rest have comedy moments but they play it straight. As does the entire film, apart from the script by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (who also direct). It looks the part, sounds the part, has the big epic score it should have and its special effects and costumes are just as you’d expect. No one is re-inventing the wheel here, they’re just making it spin a bit faster.
It could have been far less inventive and still been very entertaining. Most crucially, Goldstein and Daley are fully aware of the “magic problem” in films like this – where’s the jeopardy if some wizard can just wave his wand whenever there’s a problem? – and have come up with plausible and ingenious ways to counter it. As a result emotional climaxes feel earned and hit the spot.
Dungeons & Dragons has been around since 1974 and has millions of fans. It remains the most popular role-playing game in the world and so there was a built-in fanbase for this movie. It’s easy to suggest that it would have succeeded no matter what. But there have been three previous attempts to spin movies from the D&D IP and they have all been poorly received by the faithful.
Not so this one, thanks to Daley and Goldstein, who wrote The Flash and Horrible Bosses (so understand both fantasy and ensemble drama/comedy), the film has been a hit with fans as well as unbelievers. And deservedly so. One of the best movies of the year though? Depends how long a list you’re doing.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2023
