Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Last Watch Date - August 27, 2023
Total Times Watched - First time
Comments
I enjoy Dungeons and Dragons. I also like other tabletop RPGs, but D&D is the only one I've had consistent experience with over time. The fun thing about the world they've created is that it's all relatively loose. You can have some fun with things and take it in any direction you want. I have played with ultra serious people, incredibly detailed and verbose people, silly people, and people who don't even really want to be there. It's all over the map.
This movie takes the silly approach to things with an undercurrent of "serious." I'm not going to get into the story itself, but know that it has a lot of D&D references if you've played the game -- people, places, and things. Even if you're not super familiar with D&D, you've likely heard of Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, and Neverwinter. All of those are mentioned or shown.
This is a pretty long movie at 134 minutes. It suffers from pacing problems, particularly early on, where the first hour or so really feels much longer than it is. They could've condensed a lot of that into about 20 to 30 minutes and made a much more appealing movie. There are a lot of flashbacks that are unnecessary and drawn out as well. Cut that!
The acting is good aside from Michelle Rodriguez. It's not that she's bad, but she's ... the same character in every movie. If you've seen her before, you know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the Tiefling (Sophia Lillis) and thought the dude from the Quarry (Justice Smith) was good, too! Hugh Grant was also great as expected. Chris Pine was good enough in his role and Daisy Head sort of reprises her role from Wrong Turn but with a magical twist.
The only other issue I have with it is that it starts out feeling very similar to all of the other "sword and sorcery" shows and movies out there right now. Definitely the first half. I actually considered turning it off at one point because it was too silly and not hitting the mark. There were some genuinely bad jokes that made it feel like a WB show rather than a high-production movie. They spent $150 million making this, by the way. So, uh, yeah, not a cheap movie.
Recommended?
While it does suffer in the early half, the second half was much better and made up for a lot of it. I don't think I'd watch it again simply because of how long the setup is. So I guess, uhh, yeah if you haven't seen it yet and are interested in that. Unfortunately, this will probably be a movie I forget I ever watched within 3 months.
