There was a time when sitting in front of a table with friends, throwing dice immersed in a fantastic world born of one or more human minds, became the fulcrum of the week: if for many this thing has gradually diminished over time over the years, many others still find joy and enjoyment in the experience of Dungeons & Dragonscared for and loved in its Paper Role Play and Videogame versions, but which has always had some problems with the film adaptationsat least until today and the arrival of Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honorwhich we tell you about in our review.
Natural Critic
In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves we find a somewhat geeky party formed by Edgin (Chris Pine), inevitable bard with a troubled past, together with his company of adventures If so (Michelle Rodriguez), a powerful barbarian; together with them there are then Simon (Justice Smith), a not too good magician, and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a wild form druid of the Emerald Enclave.
Accompanying this group in the film are the characters of Forge (Hugh Grant), a downright rogue, and Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a paladin who has seen his world vanish under the effects of the red mages. Among the ranks of these, let’s finally see Ears (Daisy Head), a rather mysterious character that we will discover during the film.
Throughout the approximately two hours of the adventure, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor of Thieves exploits all the typical trappings of D&D adventures, offering light-hearted phases, twists (not too deep) and a series of very entertaining fights. Obviously we’re not talking about a series dedicated to players of the famous role-playing game: you don’t need to know the rules to enjoy the film, which basically borrows some topical moments from the game and the setting of Faerûn (even very clearly) , with its flora and fauna, but which does not bring with it all the mathematics and dice mechanics typical of the RPG.
Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor then gets to the point with regards to the plot, eventually proposing a fantasy film capable of making you laugh, excite and jump off your seat with really well developed fight choreographies. As for the graphic effects, nothing to do with those of the first D&D film, but basically something seems a bit cheap: nothing too annoying, however, since some fantastic scenes will make you forget those aftereffects.
Balance still at the top regarding the balance of the film: obviously more leaning towards action fantasy comedy, manages to find a good balance in being completely versatile, moving from topic to topic quickly. Many scenes will stick around, some because they are funny, others because they will remind players of the time when “that character did such a thing in a similar way”: however, everything will refer to that unique style of D&Dwhich although it may find you unprepared to know what a tiefling is (creatures born from the union of a human with an evil / demonic creature), it will not require a deep culture to be fully appreciated.
A saving throw
As we said, Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor is a classic Hero’s Journey, with all the typical variations on the theme, but very canonical for its style. Despite this, a not too obvious substratum of fan service manages to position itself in the unconscious of those who know the game, without however being annoying to those who have never held pencil and dice. Of course, we are not faced with The Legend of Vox Machina, where the transposition was born with the very idea of replicating these mechanics, but by making an effort you will find those calls not too tied to the rulesas to situations. Having an object capable of doing something within 500 meters seems really too stringent not to be defined as a tribute to the game, as well as the rule that Doric defines as “arbitrary” of the 5 questions to ask the deceased with Talking with the Dead.
Obviously all this is accompanied by the homage made with small details such as the cartoon heroes party, but the real and great homage is the setting. As we said, Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor is set in Faerunfictional continent of the planet Abeir-Toril: many of you will know this setting as the Forgotten Realms.
If you’ve never heard this name, surely at least you know places like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter, Menzoberranzan, Waterdeep and the Sword Coast: all locations also mentioned in the film and which become a fundamental pillar for the construction of the plot itself. But above all we continue with all the creatures, mechanics and dynamics that Dungeons & Dragons has now fossilized in the minds of players with its fifth edition. See the Dislocating beast in all their beauty to fight in the games of Sole Alto, or find out what a Mimic in live action version (obviously computer graphics), it’s something unique.
Right here comes the meeting point between the game and the film: the fact that all this information, which for years players e Dungeon Master have assimilated and inserted into their own brain, they can find graphics inside a really well made film, where it doesn’t have to be explained verbally to understand that a Aarakocra he is a humanoid with characteristics typical of a bird. In short, as already mentioned, there are works that directly pay homage to Dungeons & Dragons, where a scene can make us imagine how this could have occurred on the gaming table, and this film tries to do it a little less, thanks to the desire of the production of open up to the general public.
Small paragraph dedicated to those who have been spending their days playing for years: as with all the productions of Dungeons & Dragonsalso in this case there are those who are called in the jargon homebrew, changes to the official rules that create particular uniqueness. We see it in the transformations of Doricor in the wild or cleric magic used by the magician, speeches that certainly affect those not too strict rules, but which in fact could give that extra starting point to expand one’s adventures.
D&D Cinematic Universe
Despite the great qualitative success it has achieved Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor, the interest behind it is clearly aimed at creating a series of films. It is not impossible to think of the fact that this brand could become the bearer of unrelated adventures, perhaps with different subtitles, which continuing could join a crossover with some characters from each film, a bit a la Marvel manner. If we think about it, this already happens in the individual volumes of Dungeons & Dragons, where despite the style changes (and it would not be bad to see films other than heist movies, as this one is) however we would be talking about a known world, the protagonist.
Of course, it’s a bit of a pity that the unedited path was chosen when instead it was possible to tell stories of the origins of characters such as Vecna, Mordenkainen o Tashabut it must be said that nothing prevents the future arrival of these characters, perhaps as iconic figures who will be able to show their origins in unrelated productions.
Certainly, in the decade in which D&D is being reborn, it is a pleasure to see how the cinematographic part is also reborn, at a time when we are close to the release of the video game Baldur’s Gate 3 in its final version and where the Game of Role, stigmatized over the years but actually an activity so horizontal as to cover the most disparate people, of all ages, backgrounds and typologies. Of course, these people now have one more reason to get together: to go to the cinema to see Dungeons & Dragons: Thieves’ Honor, the first film worthy of the name.
