'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' Review

Great fantasy fun for D&D fans and newcomers alike.

Note: This review originally appeared on my blog at Forbes. I’ve been to see this movie a second time and, if anything, enjoyed it even more than the first. I genuinely love this movie and believe it will go down as a fantasy classic, and a film I’ll be watching on a regular basis well into the future.

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From the very first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, I suspected we might be in for a treat. When the trailer dropped last summer, I noted that it looked “surprisingly great” and then I tried hard to keep my expectations in check. I’ve been down this road before, and pretty recently. I had my hopes up for The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power and we all know how that turned out. Then there was the Willow Disney Plus series, which left me heartbroken.

Far too often these days, movies and TV shows are a huge disappointment, especially when they’re adaptations or sequels. The creators of The Rings Of Power clearly didn’t understand Tolkien. The creators of Willow created a show that feels nothing whatsoever like the original movie. In fantasy especially this seems like a problem. I’m not even a big fan of The Wheel Of Time books but the show mangled that adaptation as well.

Well I’m here to tell you that Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons film has avoided all the modern pitfalls of botched adaptations as well as the shortcomings that plagued fantasy movies of old (including the previous D&D movie which was, to put it mildly, an embarrassing mess). Instead, Honor Among Thieves succeeds for many of the same reasons The Legend Of Vox Machina works so well.

It’s written by people who clearly love D&D. The spirit and humor and silliness and adventure that a good session of tabletop gaming consist of all carry over into this film in the best possible way. From references to classic D&D locations along the Sword Coast like Neverwinter and Baldur’s Gate, to magical items and monsters, the movie is a lovingly crafted homage to what makes D&D so great.

Better yet, while non-D&D players might not get every inside joke, the terrific characters and swashbuckling adventure are plenty to keep moviegoers of all ages entertained. It’s exciting, often hilarious and the 2 hour and 20 minute runtime manages to feel just right. Indeed, perhaps the highest praise I can give the picture is this: I will be going back to see it again in theaters, something I almost never do. I went to a showing Sunday that was for Amazon Prime members only with my regular D&D group and our kids, and everyone walked out of the movie gushing. We are not the easiest bunch to please, either.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll give you some vague highlights:

• There’s a dragon scene that had the whole theater rolling with laughter.

• The lawful good paladin character, Xenk Yendar (Regé-Jean Page) is hilariously perfect in every way. It was during his scenes that I became certain that the people behind this movie were real D&D players and fans. Only a Dungeons & Dragons player could write such a pitch-perfect lawful good paladin.

• There’s something magical about all these D&D references coming to life, from The Red Wizards of Thay to the fact that Druids are super over-powered in the game. Even Elminster Aumar makes an appearance.

• Chris Pine as the ‘harper’ Edgin Darvis and Michelle Rodriguez as the barbarian Holga Kilgore are wonderful and have great buddy chemistry. There’s a moment when Edgin starts breaking into song and you think the gruff barbarian will be annoyed and then she just joins right in. It’s great.

• Rounding out the cast we have Justice Smith as the lousy wizard, Simon; Sophia Lillis as the Tiefling Druid, Doric; Hugh Grant as the opportunistic con-man, Forge; and Daisy Head as the mysterious sorceress, Sofina. It’s a great cast and makes for a fun adventuring party with some delicious antagonists.

• Bradley Cooper has a cameo that absolutely slays. I won’t spoil it. Trust me, it’s hilarious. A very small cameo. Very, very small—but it lands big.

• There’s a Staff of Hither and Thither that’s taken directly from the Portal games and it’s awesome.

• Speaking of magic, it’s all extremely creative and fun. There are none of those silly ‘two magic-beam duels’ you see in so many movies and shows these days. The CGI is also quite good, though it’s the creativity of the fights and spells that really make the action fun.

• I could go on and on but again, I don’t want to spoil too much. Go and see it!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is surprisingly great, exceeding all of my expectations and delivering one of the best fantasy movies in years. It's the perfect homage to D&D created by people who clearly care about tabletop gaming. Moments of emotional poignancy and earnestness never come off as cheesy, but help lend the adventure—and adventurers—more depth and texture. And the humor makes you feel like you’re right there rolling dice with characters you hope to adventure with well into the future.

Speaking of which, there’s plenty of room for sequels. Or even other films in different settings like Ravenloft or Dragonlance. If this is the quality we can expect, I’d show up to each and every one. My only hope is that if this does well enough at the box office, Paramount doesn’t rush things and treats any future installments with the same obvious love and care that it put into this one. I suppose that’s my fear and my hope all wrapped up in one.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on March 31st. Whether you play D&D or not, please don’t miss this one. It really is a wonderful film and deserves the biggest screen you can find. I’ll be back for round two on opening weekend.

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