In any adventure film worth its salt — whether it's one in search of treasure or the salvation of the world itself — having a band of characters you actually want to spend time with is paramount. Take the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, where the emotional bond between the loyal Samwise Gamgee and the troubled Frodo Baggins ensured the story endured for decades.
In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, everything is more farcical as a goofy guy with a lute, a hardened warrior dealing with heartbreak, a clumsy sorcerer with a family legacy, and a tiefling druid who shapeshifts into animals must band together. The film doesn't have the emotional gravity it halfheartedly reaches for, as it is better at being silly than serious. This suits it just fine as it's largely light on its feet, leaping its way through a standard story that it manages to make fun, even if its 134-minute runtime does overstay its welcome.
Integral to this all is the delightful thieving duo of Chris Pine as Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez as Holga, who we meet as they're locked away in a snowy prison after a prior heist didn't go according to plan. Their days are defined by hard labor, knitting and dreaming of one day breaking free. They take an opportunity to escape during a hearing for their clemency, which culminates with the best punchline of the entire film delivered by one of the panel after the two go crashing through a window. It serves as a strong introduction for the romp to come.
Following this, the duo hastily make their way back to Edgin's daughter, who the two of them raised after her mother died many years ago. Currently looking after her is their former friend Forge, played with a haughty disposition by Hugh Grant, who attempts to kill them for his own nefarious purposes. Thanks to some quick thinking by Holga and a few wrestling moves for good measure, they are able to escape with their lives. They then set out to assemble a team that will include the sorcerer Simon, played by Justice Smith of the recent thriller Sharper, the shapeshifting Doric, played by Sophia Lillis of the It films, and, for a bit, the literalistic Xenk, played by Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton. They'll have to go to a place to get a thing that allows them to find another thing in order to take on Forge and another enemy lurking in the shadows.
Of course, in the spirit of the role-playing game the film is adapting, none of this really matters. It is merely about creating a narrative reason for the characters to set out on a quest. As those who have ever played a campaign will know, the enjoyment can often stem from the banter that takes place between the bloodshed. In Honor Among Thieves, there is a cast that has charisma to spare and makes this all sing.
One standout scene involves an interrogation of characters who have since passed on, all of whom are fittingly voiced by the absurdist comedy group Aunty Donna. It works marvelously because of how simple yet silly it is, skewering itself in more ways than one. What is uncovered for the plot matters less than the darkly humorous energy it taps into. All the zingers that fly about connect far more than any of the film's fight sequences.
A key example of this comes in the final showdown where a quick visual gag of something flying across the frame elicits more emotion via its silliness than the middling battle itself. Some of this comes down to how the movie is lacking stakes — it doesn't feel as though anyone is in real danger. However, it is also frequently flatly staged and shot — lots going on, yet little splendor.
The infinitely more dynamic sequences come when the action is intertwined with the absurdity, like when the characters undertake a heist on a heavily guarded convoy using a magical item. These clever, smaller-scale shenanigans are far sharper than the moments of empty spectacle. Had the film pulled back on its excesses to let the charming characters truly shine, it would have landed the critical hit it was rolling for. One can only hope, if there are more quests ahead, that they more fully set their sights on the mirth discovered in the friends made along the way. ♦
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
