Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3.5/4
Smarter-than-average sword & sorcery spectacle
Indyfreak - wrote on 06/20/2023
What an effortlessly fun and charming romp this was. The directors embraced the weirdness of the D&D game without belittling it or getting too obsessed with minor details. Instead they let the action and humor do the world-building. Meanwhile the cast is clearly having a good time.
Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez have a nice rapport together as two rogues who gather a team for a near-impossible heist. Hugh Grant is quite funny as a dastardly schemer who holds Pine’s daughter captive.
The action scenes are energetic and zany. There is a lot of cgi but it looks cool and imaginative instead of mind-numbing. The script feels like the lines are improvised and the dialogue is very quippy. It does have a James Gunn/Joss Whedon
sensibility to it.
This movie could have easily been …
Rating of
3/4
D&D
Matthew Brady - wrote on 06/03/2023
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is a watchable movie made by people who care and know about the original board game, which is why the 2000 film failed horribly.
Although I have to say, I didn’t quite get wrapped up in the adventure that I wanted to. Usually, when movies start slow and rough, where you are not feeling it, but when it does get going and you get swept up by it. This didn’t happen to me, sadly.
I appreciate the costume, production, make-up, visual effects, and characters; that one-shot take scene was solid.
I liked it a lot here, on the performance and technical aspects. It’s just that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Maybe the sequel will be better. However, judging by the bomb office numbers, I’m uncertain it will happen.
Rating of
3/4
These Rogues Rule
Chris Kavan - wrote on 06/03/2023
While this is not the first attempt to bring Dungeons & Dragons to the big screen, it is the first time the formula has actually worked. The film is approachable enough for general audiences to enjoy while having enough references to make long-time fans of the series also have a good time. It helps that the casting is spot on and it just seems like everyone involved is having a good time (yes, even Hugh Grant).
We open in a cold, remote prison where Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) are sharing a cell after a job gone wrong. Edgin is the talkative bard who once worked for the upstanding Harpers - a group of do-gooding souls who take no money even as the protect the people of the land - but who is no longer a part of said group after a different job gone wrong …
