Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves is directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis as four adventurers in the Dungeons and Dragons world who must go on a quest to rescue the daughter (Chloe Coleman) of Pine’s character, Edgin. Hugh Grant and Daisy Head play the film’s villains, a rogue ex-thief who has manipulated his way into political prominence and a Red Wizard.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves is foremost totally faithful to the Dungeons and Dragons lore, and fans of the tabletop game will love the Easter eggs and references. It also invites people like me, who don’t know Dungeons and Dragons, into the fun. Everything about this film is affable and charming, and this big budget action-comedy feels like a throwback to the summer spectacles of the past in all the best ways. Pine anchors a delightful cast who appear to be having a thorough delight in making this movie.
A victim of its source material, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves is a side quest movie, and some of those side quests are less entertaining than others. The plot requires the main characters to go on a quest to get a MacGuffin, but first, they have to get another MacGuffin, but first, they have to talk to another person to get a thing to get another MacGuffin and on and on. A story structure like this would be draining if the majority of the side quests weren’t entertaining. One section with Bridgerton star Regé Jean-Page is a particular highlight, even though that side quest went on a little too long and threatened to take over the film.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves doesn’t have any deep themes or eternal truths; it’s not the kind of film that will stay with people, aside from its most ardent fans. It’s a film that surpasses relatively low ambitions. And that’s okay. In fact, in a film landscape of American movies that often do too little with too many resources, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves goes down just right.
