Dungeons and Dragons Is What Modern Movies Need
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves is out in theaters and getting rave reviews. Why are people enjoying this film so much? It’s certainly a movie that would appeal to nerds, sure. But the general population seems to be really enjoying it. What does it have that other films don’t? And how can Hollywood replicate the success of Honor Among Thieves in future movies?
Movies in the last decade have largely been, eh how can I put this, pretty terrible. Sure, we’ve had some great blockbusters like the Avengers movies. But on the whole, most movies just haven’t been great. They haven’t been fun. It’s what I like to call the Dark Ages of Cinema: films full of identity politics and abrasive messaging that doesn’t resonate with mass audiences. You can see that most clearly with the hard turn the MCU has taken with its agenda and how the Oscars have placed stringent quotas. All these efforts are truly stifling to creators who want to entertain their audiences.
Then after such a long time of these creatively bland films, along comes Top Gun Maverick that dominates the global box office. Its success came from its simplicity. It only sought to entertain audiences with a solid story and delightful character development. It was a game changer in the current landscape. In my review for it, I mentioned that it may have been a turning point. And I think I’m beginning to see I may have been right.
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves continues the trend that Top Gun Maverick began. It’s a fun movie, with self contained characters and story, set in a much larger universe. Like Maverick, it respects what came before with a very keen eye on detail. When I was in middle school, one of my sister’s boyfriends gave me his old DOS games among them being quite a few, now classic, Dungeons and Dragons games. I played Pool of Radiance into the wee hours of the night. Later in high school, I delved deep into Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. All of these games, and much, much more lore were carefully weaved into the story of Honor Among Thieves.
Some people may call it meaningless fan service, just adding references for the sake of adding references and pleasing the fans. But I believe it goes much deeper than that. Those references to Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter were not only references that would please fans, but more importantly, respecting the lore and the stories that came before. This is something that the last batch of Star Wars movies didn’t do. Disney destroyed everything that was expanded upon in countless books, comics, and video games. I mean who wouldn’t have wanted a Dash Rendar film? With Honor Among Thieves, the film’s director, actors, and producers not only respected the lore and mythology of the Dungeon & Dragons universe, but also expanded upon it in new and innovative ways.
Having played the video games, I must admit that the film was a faithful adaptation of the look and feel of the games. Building a party full of unique characters that each add a specific quality that complements the other members was very clearly done in the film. Edgin, played by the ever-charming Chris Pine, very quickly and efficiently tells us his background and motivations. He was an honorable spy who made the mistake of stealing some gold from a band of Red Wizards who in turn take their vengeance upon his family by killing his wife. He is left alone to raise his daughter but not without help. On one of his adventures he meets and befriends Holga, who herself has a complicated past. Holga fell in love with someone outside her tribe, hell, outside her species. For that she was banished. But when she found Edgin and his daughter, they felt a sense of community and of family. This is something that Honor Among Thieves excels at. Much like the family dynamic is portrayed in the Fast and Furious movies, Dungeons & Dragons also gives us that warmth that friends and family give.
Along the way, they meet a lighthearted bunch of characters. There’s Doric, played by Sophia Lillis, Xenk played by Rege-Jean Page, and Simon played by Justice Smith. Rounding out the cast of baddies are Sofina and Forge, played by Daisy Head and Hugh Grant. The entire film plays out like a movie version of a role playing game, something I’ve not yet seen done well until now. The charm is what makes this movie truly stand out. Charm from both the characters and its story. The film stays largely positive and optimistic, choosing to focus on the adventure of it all, rather than get bogged down in anything negative. This is something that films of the past decade have lacked and what Hollywood writ large can learn from.
Speaking of Hollywood, producers should take notice of how both Top Gun Maverick and Dungeons and Dragons focus on story and character development. In Honor Among Thieves, each character is given a backstory and a personality as well as struggles or challenges they have to overcome. None of them are all-powerful or all-knowing. Each has their flaws that they work on. For example, Simon must overcome his fear of not measuring up to great sorcerers in his family when he tries to put on the helmet. Doric must let down her guard after being hurt by circumstances. By the end of the film each character has a complete story arc.
As for the story, this is where the film may falter in the eyes of some viewers. However, the story and plot accomplishes two objectives. The first is to get their characters where they need to be from point A to point B. They overcome their flaws and challenges during the adventure. This is something that is very challenging for game and video game adaptations to do: provide a good story. The second objective is to pay just the right amount of fan service by capturing the feel of the source material. The film really did feel like I was playing the game. There were a couple fetch quests which usually bog down plotlines of many stories. But in Honor Among Thieves, the characters do make fun of this in quite a meta way. Edgin rolling his eyes when having to fetch the magical helmet was a great meta joke. The scene in the graveyard was also quite adept at making fun of fetch quests. It’s these jokes that land well and make the film fun and lighthearted.
Overall, Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves is a fun, light-hearted movie that follows in the footsteps of Top Gun Maverick. It focuses on character development and story and excels at both, giving audiences exactly what they’ve been clamoring for, for the past decade. My hope is that this can flourish as a franchise as there is a huge backlog of lore with massive potential to explore. A charming and very capable cast can carry the franchise to more fun adventures. If you haven’t seen this film, get out to the theaters. You’ll have a ton of fun with this film and that’s exactly what the magic of the movies is all about.
If you like this review, check out the video review on YouTube: