‘Dungeon’ Masters
A genial cast + imaginative CGI x efficient world-building ÷ a smart script = an IP adaptation that doesn’t suck.
Dungeons & Dragons: honor Among thieves
Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley • Writers: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio, based on the game
Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Pchage, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Daisy Head, Chloe Coleman
USA/Canada • 2hrs 14mins
Opens Hong Kong March 30 • IIA
Grade: B+
The short plot summary of co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is easy. A master thief and his best pal/partner in crime bust out of prison, then bring together a team of misfits for a heist designed to take down a despot and reunite the thief with his estranged daughter. See? Easy.
But wait. This is D&D we’re talking about, an IP with 50-year storytelling history whose most high profile attempt at a screen version was the 2000 catastrophe starring Jeremy Irons. With baggage like this, Goldstein and Daley have their work cut out for them. The nerds will be sharpening their knives and god help you if you screw up their baby; anyone else who cares will be thinking of the previous crime against humanity. Who wants to subject themselves to that again?
But funny things happen when filmmakers take a nerdy IP seriously enough to embrace the silliness, have fun with the nerds – with them, not at them – and put actual effort into having a good time. Because that’s what Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is: unapologetic entertainment. At a time when “IP” is a dirty word, and the last string of IP-based films have been indulgent, cynical, self-aggrandisment bombs (Shazam! Fury of the God, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Black Adam, Jurassic World Dominion), D&D:HAT lives up to its premise, its trailer, its source material, and delivers the goods. It’s better than it has any right to be and bless it for it.
This is how IP is done
The mammothly popular and influential 1974 RPG has left (and continues to leave) a Tolkien-level legacy on the fantasy genre, and it’s every bit as intricate as Middle Earth, maybe more. So let’s go: The central thief and his pal are Edgin (Chris Pine), a one-time Harper (whatever the fuck that is) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), an exile from Uthgardt Elk Tribe (what’s that now?) with a serious “type.” Just as they’re about to be released from prison, they bust out and head for Neverwinter (where?), where despot Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant, really cashing in on late-career cad-ism) lives with Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman, 65). Now, he rules with help from Sofina (Daisy Head, The Sandman), Red Wizard of Thay who’s trying to… restore Thay? Edgin and Holga eventually connect with human-hating Druid (of course) Doric (Sophia Lillis, It) and wizard Simon (Justice Smith, Jurassic World Dominion), who’s not very good at wizarding, and off they go on a series of quests to remove the despot, save the realm and reunite the family.
And this is where the potential for bafflement lurks, but which Goldstein, Daley, and co-writer Michael Gilio (whose only real credit is the 2001 low budget curiosity Kwik Stop) keep at bay. If you can’t tell, I’m not a D&D nerd, and no matter how much D&D nerds evangelise, lots of people aren’t. The real masterstroke here is how the fantasy world and the story engage non-players but (I’m going to guess) are crammed full of Easter eggs gamers will appreciate. This is how you make all viewers feel welcome. Wrap it all up in CGI creatures, landscapes and tchotchkes that proudly wear their cheesy and serve with a side of solid action and boom. Genre winner.
Goldstein and Daley (who played psycho shrink Sweets on the TV series Bones) had their biggest success as a filmmaking duo with the legit hilarious Game Night (Jesse Plemons, FTW), and their knack for impeccable comic timing and delivery is on full display: check out the graveyard interrogation and the year’s best running gag, Jonathan, the eagle-ish parole board member. They coax the cast into underplaying rather than going big and it works every single time; you don’t need big when truly imaginative VFX do the heavy lifting on the big front.
And casting in fantasy is always, fittingly so, alchemy of the highest order; the best fantasy entertainment works because the cast clicks. See: Lord of the Rings. Don’t see: In the Name of the King. They’re clicking here, led by “The Best Chris” Pine, who’s proved time and again he’s got some killer comic instincts to go with gravity when needed. It would have been nice to give Smith, Lillis and Head more to do, but they get enough to prove they’re able to throw down a well-placed side-eye or drop a slow burn. Bridgerton fans need to steel themselves for minimal Regé-Jean Page as Thay paladin (huh?) Yendar, who only drops in, but leverages his affected regality flawlessly. His devotion to walking straight into the distance is admirable. The surprise is Rodriguez, who’s given a familiar tough girl coat to slip on, but one that’s lined with actual humanity. It’s easy to forget how compelling Rodriguez was in her breakout Girlfight when the Fast & Furious goofiness is what she’s most associated with, but she’s a pitch perfect foil for Pine, giving D&D:HAT its emotional backbone and an ideal adventure duo. Hand me my damn lute and bring on the sequel. — DEK