Despite the enormous commercial potential of a license like Dungeons & Dragons (Dungeons and Dragons in Spain), which for decades offered one epic story after another to millions of players and created by themselves, the cinema n has traditionally not been so benevolent with the franchise. Everything has to build towards “something more”, everything has to have a huge cinematic universe behind it and so there are also huge expectations for movies that have that potential.
Whether it’s Ender’s Game or The Mummy, franchise strategy is a kind of Bermuda Triangle filled to the brim with shattered dreams. Amid this uncertain era comes Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which precisely excels at limiting the need for a broad narrative, instead making do with humor and a little romance here and there.
“Honor Among Thieves” is very simple. Of course, there are countless names of places, people, and events that are mentioned interchangeably, but the story of Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), which brings together a group of memorable characters to steal an artifact, with the help of Hugh Grant’s excellent character Forge, and perhaps most importantly, finding Edgin’s missing daughter, is great fun. As such, it’s not a complex narrative, with countless threads to be traced. Given the way fantasy universes are often constructed, where epic is a central driver, Honor Among Thieves is meant to be intimate , even.
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The aforementioned motley crew also includes Xenk Yendar (René Jean-Page) and the fantastical Doric (Sophia Lillis). Justice Smith plays the character of Simon Aumar, and they all give solid performances, with the weight of their performance placed on comedic remarks and dialogue. Honor Among Thieves, as I said, is a really fun movie. The pacing, finesse, and solidity of the mise-en-scène make it worth it, even if the film is too long to keep up with the comedic pace. But the whole thing is overflowing with humor, and many will probably find that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, a good approach to an otherwise quite deep universe.
This is also due to the good work of John Francis Daily, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, who have been working on this script for years. You can tell there’s an exuberant creative energy here that’s often lacking in great fantasy films of late. At least she’s not cynical, you can’t call it that. Yeah, you could say it’s a bit long, and you have to, because it all starts to drag a bit at the end, and it becomes a super annoying trend: that blockbuster movies can be under 130 minutes long.
But Honor Among Thieves has lots of awesome effects, tons of fan service for hardcore fans of the D&D universe, but above all, it has excellent acting and an effective script. Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t have to become a big movie franchise, but if it does end up going that route, here’s a great foundation for the future.
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