With Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves, “the world’s greatest roleplaying game” makes its way to the silver screen, though not for the first time. The earlier, poorly received and little-remembered 2000 film Dungeons & Dragons shall forever bear that distinction. But that film and its two sequels have left such little impact on the popular consciousness that Honor among Thieves is the first Dungeons & Dragons film of which most contemporary moviegoers will be aware.
But Honor among Thieves can truthfully lay claim to being the first film set in the Forgotten Realms, D&D’s most popular campaign setting, the earlier Dungeons & Dragons films having been set in an original world of their own. It is delightful to see in live action what one has previously only seen in the mind’s eye or in illustrations. And even for me—whose interest in D&D may rightly be called “casual,” having played enough sessions of the popular RPG to have some sense for it but not enough to consider myself seasoned—seeing the Realms come alive in this manner provides a base-level interest that persists throughout the film’s runtime. Filmgoers previously unfamiliar with the game or its settings will not experience this thrill of recognition, but the film’s production design realizes its fantasy world admirably, such that even newcomers to the franchise may enjoy being immersed in this world of swords and sorcery, magic and mystery.
As suits a D&D story, the film concerns a party of adventurers. To what degree viewers find this film an engaging story—rather than an exercise in immersing us in its world, however successful at this it is—will depend upon how much they like these central characters.
Chris Pine plays Edgin Darvis, a human bard, though he is a bard in the more conventional sense of the term, being unable to cast spells, which members of the bard class in D&D typically can. Pine proves as charming as ever and anchors the cast. After a botched attempt to steal a magic item, a resurrection tablet, capable of bringing his deceased wife back from the dead, Edgin spends several years in prison, missing much of the childhood of his daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), who comes to resent him for his absence, unaware of Edgin’s attempts to resurrect her mother. In Edgin’s absence, Kira has been raised by Forge Fitzwilliams (Hugh Grant), a rogue and former associate of Edgin’s who has become Lord of Neverwinter, a bustling city and popular locale from D&D media. Edgin discovers that Forge betrayed him during the attempt to steal the resurrection tablet and has been poisoning his daughter against him, so he decides to steal the contents of Forge’s treasure vault, which contains the resurrection tablet, to prove Forge’s duplicity—the heist around which the film’s plot revolves.
The other members of Edgin’s party, who join him in his efforts to rob the vault, are Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a human barbarian; Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), a sorcerer and descendant of famous wizard and well-known D&D character Elminster; and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a tiefling druid. The party also receives assistance from paladin Xenk Yendar (René-Jean Page) for part of their adventure. Of Edgin’s party members, Simon is the most interesting: despite his impressive heredity, he struggles to control his magic and must improve as a sorcerer and overcome his insecurities if the party is to be successful in its planned heist. Holga has her moments as well: in addition to being the muscle of the group, she also has had a tumultuous love life, which the film addresses. Of least interest is Doric, whose ability to change shape into various animals provides the film with some of its most exciting and memorable action beats but who is the least developed of the party.
The plot has its twists and turns, as any good heist movie should, and has action scenes that are well-executed and engaging, whether they involve acts of physical prowess or magic. The story carefully showcases some of the distinctive elements of the Forgotten Realms and of D&D in general. And though there is ample CGI, there are also plenty of practical effects, including some impressive creatures, with one of the film’s earliest scenes featuring a dragonborn and an aarakocra, both realized practically. The central characters are all humanoid, and most of them are human, but the film does a decent job of making its world feel populated by many fantasy creatures and not just humans.
All in all, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves is a solid and engaging romp. While it will not rank among the great dramas of cinematic history, it manages to flesh out its characters and make them endearing and human (even the non-humans among them) more deeply than one might expect from a movie based on a tabletop game. I recommend the film to D&D fans and to anyone for whom the notion of a heist movie set in a fantasy setting of magic and monsters sounds appealing.