A pair of ruffians escape prison and embark on a quest for riches and magic.
Review © 2023 by Flytrap
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio, Chris McKay
Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant
Full cast and crew are here
Rated PG-13
Running time: 134 mins
A bard and warrior woman (Pine and Rodriguez) kind of wander around for a while before hooking up with a former comrade, a second-rate wizard (Smith) and a severely over-qualified druid. They wander a bit more to find the bard’s daughter, who is in the care of another former colleague (Grant), who they decide, for rather spurious reasons, to rip off a treasure from his vaults.
The cinematography here is first-rate, as are the special effects. The owl bear was fantastic as were all the creatures. However, the score was loud and crushing, the dialog was teeth-grindingly bad, and the umpteen attempts at humor mostly fell flat. Meandering around as they did works in in a DnD game, but in a film it creates fidgeting as you wait for them to get on with it. There were some sub-plots just thrown in that did not further the story (a waste of Bradley Cooper). I almost walked out after the first hour, but the second half got a bit better as they actually started focusing on the task at hand. It wasn’t enough to save the movie for me, but it got a star back. And then lost it for failure to land.
I cannot recommend this one. If you want to see a good movie with a DnD theme, watch The Warriors or A Chinese Ghost Story II; they are much more entertaining. There is a mid-credits scene, nothing after that.
Flytrap rating: 5/10
Want to discuss / rebut / flame me?
Leave a reply below.