Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Dungeons, Dragons, Thieves, Oh My

A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves serves up everything promised in the title and more. There are thieves. They are thrown into dungeons and fight dragons and the gang is an honorable bunch. Truth in advertising is evident here. This is a film that panders to the fan base without losing the non fan. It takes itself as seriously as the game while still maintaining the random plotting of its game play.

Among the D&D Hollywood adherents are many directors who proudly fly their dragon banner: Jon Favreau– the father of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Joss Whedon, James Gunn, the Russo Brothers all have credited the game as inspirations for their Marvel-ous world building.

The D&D movie, arriving after more than a decade in development hell, is a big, noisy, smash-and-zap fantasy that stay true to the game’s heart. The nasty expedition is delivered in the first ten minutes. The challenge is a simple start- find a way for a loquacious thief named Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a divorced Barbarian warrior named Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) to escape a fortified tower to reunite with Edgin’s daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman). She’s under the thrall of a conman frenemy, Forge (Hugh Grant) who is under the sway of the sorceress, Sofina (Daisy Head). Along the way they will enlist the help of the druidess, Doric (Sophia Lillis) and Wizard in training, Simon (Justice Smith). Like the game, their mission will have detours, where they will strategize and brainstorm- fan boy audience participation anticipated. This is what we do!” Edgin yelps. “We pivot!”

The improv spirit of the game is referenced in subtle ways. There is a nifty one-shot chase sequence where Lillis’ druid hastily shape-shifts among a housefly, a mouse, a cat and a deer. Whenever the story line clunks towards its familiar ending, the more excuses the cinematographer Barry Peterson seizes to send the camera on a loop-de-loop. During one brawl, the editor Dan Lebental cuts again and again to Edgin stuck on the sidelines struggling to abrade his rope cuffs. You can sense the character’s frustration to be rolling ones and twos.